


Level Up

by Izayasfun, Wolf



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:01:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16268546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izayasfun/pseuds/Izayasfun, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolf/pseuds/Wolf
Summary: A tale as old as time, a hero and a villain must engage in battle for the ultimate prize. What happens though to the game, if the hero is more like a thug, and the villain more like a weirdo? Many misadventures await them, including love, battle, and panty stealing!Made by Izzy and Wolfshowl526Updates every Friday.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Hero Takes A Quest

Sunlight.. Blinding as hell sunlight. Why didn’t he buy blackout curtains? Bad enough he was already waking up before his alarm was even going off. Though he didn’t much care for waking up that way either. He rolled over onto his side, facing away from where the light was pouring in and attempted to gain even a few more moments of sleep but after lying there it just didn’t happen. He opened his eyes slowly and rubbed them, sitting up now and turning his head to find out how early he had woken up before his alarm had been set to go off - only there was no alarm. Blinking the remaining of sleep from his eyes he looked around and became a little alarmed himself to find that this wasn’t his room, he was also pretty sure that this wasn’t any of his friends rooms either. 

Placing his feet on the ground he rose, looking around slowly now. The bed itself had been a nook that was pushed up against the wall beside the railing of some stairs - large pillows and warm blankets, really warm.. He wished he could sleep again.. Moving away from the bed he found the room a bit cluttered with two massive windows having been the reason why light had awoken him. He found it a little odd that the farming around them was stone and heavy wood, not like modern windows at all. There was a table nearby with a small tea set on it, a single table at it and standing before it a candle on a large holder. Something else odd.. He found a small mirror hanging on a post right beside the railing of the stairs and looked at it - still himself, that hadn’t changed. 

He went down the stairs now and stopped just there, looking around once more. Half wood, half stone marked the divide between the room. On the stone half was a large three faced fireplace with a roaring flame within it, a rocking chair right beside it. The mantle had drying herbs on it which filled the room with their smell. There was a large dining room table sitting in the middle, with six chairs going around it with a large teapot resting there beside some fruit in a bowl. The table sat on a large rug, large enough even for its size. At the base of the stairs was the bathroom and opening it he found it very simple, with a huge stone tub and another window letting in light. He stepped away from the stairs now and spotted something in the stone half he hadn’t, a large chest that stood out to him for some reason and he walked over to it. 

With just a touch of his hand it opened up to him and looking in he saw something shining in the bottom, he picked it up to find golden coins of some kind. He wasn’t sure what to make of them so he pocketed them. There was another doorway here that he turned too, but parting the hanging wooden beads showed him it was just a pantry with barely anything within it and some dinnerware. Coming back out he started to find the chest missing. 

There was one more doorway he hadn’t entered, on the wooden side now. Opening it he found it was a library but for all the shelves it had that could have hold books - it only held four. And when he opened those four up they were empty. He moved over to the desk and found a map, but it was the weirdest map he had ever seen. It was blank save for just a two spots, one of which looked like a tree with a mailbox next to it and the other appeared to be a village of some kind. He shook his head a little and stepped out, finding nothing more of use in that room - nor in the rest of the bottom floor. Finally he stepped outside..

A dirt path with wooden steps every so often moved out in front of him now, beside the door was a mailbox and looking up at the porch overhang he found it was two trees whose branches wound together to give a bit of shade. Stepping off the porch he found that this odd little straw roof house was resting right up against a tree and was nested in its roots. He didn’t think that was safe - all it took was a massive storm to knock a tree branch, or the tree itself into the house and hurt someone. 

He traveled to the left now and went down a dirt path to another area, but here it was just a massive grassy field so he backtracked back up and kept following the path. He found another door in the side of a stone and grass covered hill, and stepping inside found a huge hollowed out room. A blacksmith? There was a set of stairs going up a short way and peering into the room at top he wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a weird object he wasn’t sure what to call, and after exploring the shop a bit more headed back out. One last turn around the house and he found a barn with a grazing patch next to it. The inside was warm and smelled like dirt and hay, but there was no sign of any animals. Nor had there been any sign of anyone else around. Weird.. And it kept getting weird. 

There was nothing left at this place for him to explore and weirdly enough he had found no trace anyone else had lived here, yet the fire had been going and the candles had been lit to give light. He didn’t know what this meant or even how he had gotten here, how he was wearing these basic clothes - there hadn’t been any sign of a computer or even a phone. No sign of power and yet it had running water. He would even swear that while it appeared like something from olden times, the crafting in which had gone into building it was way to careful and detailed for something like that. 

“Where is anyone..” He muttered as he turned to look down the end of the path now. That was the only way he could go now so he frowned and began to walk down it. He traveled what seemed like long and empty country, and often glanced back at the tree that marked the house he had started in. It hadn’t seemed like anyone was coming back to it anyway but he was a little uneased to just leave it for the unknown. It was only after he could no longer see it that he broke out in a trot, fantly panicked now in fear that there would be nothing else - until he spotted the outline of a town. Then he broke out in a run, going full speed until he came to the edge of it and fell to his hands and knees panting heavily. What the hell? He knew he could run a hell of a lot further than that before getting this worn down..

After taking a few more breaths he stood up, looking to the sign above the entrance. “L.. Littlebell?” He muttered softly. Who came up with that name? He looked down and walked in now, glancing around a bit. Things seemed.. Normal here at least. Spotting a traven he figured that would be the best place to find someone and walked inside, finding it mostly empty save for a couple of people.

Coming into the tavern, he could feel almost a homely atmosphere in the air. There were more candles here too, it seemed like electricity was a thing of the past, and he had gone back in time. Standing there however, looking around at the people that were both dressed plainly, and having their own conversations and interactions seemed to attract the attention of the bartender. A busty woman who had her hair tied back into a long simple braid over her shoulder. Wiping down a mug that looked like it was impressive she was even lifting it. Though it seemed she wasn’t going to actually talk to him unless he came to actual conversing distance.  
He didn’t think that any kind of crime would be ignored by the people that seemed to behaving normally otherwise. As if testing the waters, he moved towards the stairs, only to be promptly called over now by the woman. “Oi- Rooms ain’t free, and last I checked, you haven’t paid coin.” she said, frowned. Looking over at him sternly now, he could see faint lines of age around her eyes, but not enough to really indicate an age over forty. “Come here boy, you look wet behind the ears. You a bright eyed adventurer to be?” she asked now, with a sigh. All the young men wanted to be adventurers after all, until they came across their first monster and they ran home up to their mother’s skirts. 

No, no. Littlebell was better known for Milk, cheese and a calm rest stop for worn adventurers than spitting any of them out. 

“Ad..” He stopped, looking at her confused now. Adventurer? Just what kind of world did she think she was? “No.. I’m just.. A little confused. Where am I?” He asked her now. 

“Littlebell.” she raised an eyebrow at him now. “What town do you come from?” she asked. Pouring himself a glass of water now, and offering it out for him. 

“New York..” He said softly. He had never heard of Littlebell before though. “What country is this?” He looked down at the water and took it now, though then he wondered if it was free or not. If she was baiting him..

“It’s free boy.” she smirked now at his hesitation before blinking at his words. “New york? That sounds like a dish… is it a new village?” she asked now. Every now and then a village was formed after all.

This was making him very confused now. New York was pretty well known throughout the world. Was he in maybe a part of the world where things were that backwards? “I uh.. Well, nevermind that. Do you know about this.. House on the edge of the town? By a big tree?”

“Oh yes, that’s been there for a while now. Someone constructed it recently. I think that it’s a rich young lord. It would do some good for all the unwed maidens around here.” she smiled now.

A faint bit of blush appeared on his cheeks. He was beginning to question if he wanted to know who lived there now. “Do you know where I can find like.. A phone or something? Where’s the nearest airport?”

“Ehh?” the woman looked at him now as if he had grown a second head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about boy.”

Really backwards country now it seemed. “Nevermind..” He muttered softly as he stepped away from the bar now. After a bit of thought he turned and stepped back up to the counter again. “Where’s the next village?” He asked her. 

“Child, I’m a bartender, not an adventurer. You’d best go to the guild for a map. “ she pointed out. Though he got the feeling that she didn’t really know, or perhaps just didn’t really care. “Perhaps they can offer you a mission as well for coin.” she offered.

Coin.. Oh! He reached into his pocket now to pull out a coin he had found in the chest back at the place. “What is this?” He asked her, holding up the small gold coin.

The woman blinked at the sight of it, grinning a little as he even managed to turn a few heads now. “Oh my boy, that’s coin, are ya daft?” she said, though he could the feeling he had taken some snap out of her voice. “With that you can have a weeks stay and meals.” she grinned. It was a generous offer really, considering copper, or silver would have run for less benefits.

He slipped it back into his hand and tucked it away, getting a bad feeling now. The coins were small but by his count he had a hundred of them on his side right now - something he fixed by moving the bag forward and tucking it under his shirt. Okay, so he may have been a bit rich right now - though he wondered if that was because he had stolen it. “Right.. I’ll just explore the rest of the town now.”

The woman grinned and said “Come back soon boy, ya hear?” Though he got the feeling that coin had raised the woman’s hospitality. It didn’t help that he felt eyes on his back as he walked out, a clear target after having had a fat sack of coins out for greedy eyes to see. It was as he was walking out, and feeling like any of the men from the bar might have followed after him that he suddenly ran into a woman- literally as the basket she had been holding went everywhere. 

“Kyaah!” she cried out, their foreheads smacking against each other, and both landing on their arses as she hissed at hitting the ground. “What’s going on with you?!” she demanded now, face flushed in anger as her fruits and vegetables were all over the place. Rolling around the ground and between people’s steps that really didn’t seem to care, or even move to help. Though they had noticed the sudden mess- it wasn’t interesting enough to care. For him though, there was something different that caught his eyes entirely. Pointed ears that were both twitching in annoyance, and were red tipped in embarrassment. An elf woman that looked damn near smacking him with the basket once she had it in her hands again. “What are you gawking at? My basket!” she whimpered, and he spotted now a couple of kids grabbing now a couple of fruits and vegetables before darting away. Stolen- and if he didn’t hurry, everything else would be gone too.

“...sorry.” He muttered as he got up. “But maybe you should watch where you’re going in the first place. A person coming out a door can really see right off the bat with the sun in their eyes you know.” But he bent down and picked up something and started at it - a.. Puppy? A peach? A peach puppy? He looked confused as he raised his hand to drop it back into her basket, helping her gather up the rest.

“You were far from the bar, you were the one staring back.” she argued, frowning as she held her basket hard now. “...Damn it. Now I have to go back to the guild..” she muttered, looking to account what had been lost. 

Guild? That was where the barkeep had told him to go to learn some stuff about the area. He followed behind her now and keep several paces between them, looking around at the town as he did so. Everything else seemed normal enough - so what was up with her ears and that fruit? It seemed like a normal village, a bit behind the times but pretty peaceful. It wasn’t as noisy as New York had been.

It was as he was following behind her that he could see that there were others with her strange ears. Walking amongst humans as commonly as the air he was breathing, that when the giant building came into view, he realized it really did look like an important place. If not something that seemed out of place with the rest of the building and dirt roads. The clean white columns that were on the outside seemed to just mark the place as a hub with the gentle flow of people coming in and out. It was entering the guild building that he could see more people gathered here. Boards with what seemed like job listings all around as people were both putting some up, and others were taking some down in order to complete them. Coming up to one such board, he peered over the documents, finding one that was a mission… for more seeds? It seemed like it was a request from an elderly couple that needed more seeds and farming tools, but couldn’t quite make it to town. The rewards said two copper.

In fact, as he looked around, all the missions on the boards seemed pretty run of the mill tasks, with a low range of cooper rewards. Though some offered foods, or clothing, as far as he could tell. There was one though, that caught his eye that a group was across from. Curiously peering over the details- it seemed like this one had a reward of a weapon, daggers to be exact.

He started at them and then slowly turned to look around at the place. It looked.. While everything else in the village had been wood and stone, this place seemed more marble. There was a huge lounge area with couches and chairs around smaller fires. It seemed like it had room for a lot of people, but there was barely anyone there. Very calmly he walked over to the front counter where someone was, waiting for a quest to be accepted. “Where is your restroom?” He asked.

“Those doors there, sir.” He said as he pointed them out with a smile. He turned and calmly walked over to the bathroom, entering into the men’s side and walking to the sink. 

He turned on the water and splashed his face into it. A dream.. A bad dream? So far it didn’t seem bad but it sure as shit wasn’t normal. When his hair was watered down and his collar soaked he looked at himself in the mirror, suddenly not looking as calm. He turned and rushed at the wall, hitting his forehead on it hard enough to send him flat on his butt and to cause a bit of blood to appear - and that wasn’t the only thing that appeared as a bar appeared down in his line of sight. He looked at sharply as it read ‘99’ health and his heart sunk deeply in his gut now. Health? As in health bar? He tried to hit it but his hand simply went through it and suddenly something else popped up now - an empty space that he could clearly see against the wall. Was this.. Where items went and shit? Right now it only showed it had a hundred gold coins in the corner with no silver or copper. And there - beside it - Stats? He was pretty basic it seemed but none of this was making him feel better..

After several minutes he gathered himself up and stood, washing off his forehead a bit and stepping outside again. Game.. This was.. Like a game.. So then, what came next? Maybe something would happen if he accepted a quest? He moved over to the board again and after a bit of thought accepted the one to bring seeds to the outside of town for the elder couple. Two copper coins wasn’t much next to his hundred gold, but he had to take this slow to figure things out.

Once the offer was taken, the little pin that had been holding it there disappeared. He found out he couldn't just walk out with the paper quest either, but rather had to go to the guild clerk to have it ‘stamped’ and the letter disappeared into his inventory. “Happy questing!” the man smiled. Every quest was important after all for the community. Even one as simple as seed delivery. It was as he stepped outside, that he realized, he didn't even know where to get seeds! 

“Hey, hey, is this your first mission?” a voice asked now. Making him turn and look at the being that had come before him. A male elf, his face bright and eager, his ears pointed as the others and his hair a dusty brown. He looked like a little mouse in a way, or maybe that was just because he was a couple inches taller than him. “Hello? “he blinked in confusion to the other's.. staring. 

Ah, his New Yorker side was showing.. “Yeah..” He said softly, blinking at him now. “It’s just simple.. Seeds for a couple on the edge of town.” He muttered, turning his head a little. For some reason he felt like he knew where to go in order to deliver the seeds but he didn’t know where to get the seeds themselves. It was a little backwards, he thought. But first missions were normally really easy so he didn’t think this one would be anything but that either. “Even though I took it I haven’t explored the town very much, so I’m not sure where to get the seeds they’re asking for.. Well, there’s a market around here somewhere I guess, so maybe there.”

“Market? That's for food.” he pointed out now in confusion. “You can gather seeds from reaping some of the monsters in the forests.” he hummed.

The other looked at him oddly. “Do what now?” He asked as he suddenly looked like he wanted to trash the flyer and take off. “Who.. Who does that?”

“Everyone?” he blinked. “Well not exactly everyone but even town people can kill the little monsters on the edges of the forest. They're not big at all.” he pointed out.

“You make it sound like all I have to do is pick up a stick, go whack it on the head and loot its dead body.” He said dryly. 

“Basically.”he pointed out. “There’s good sticks on the forest edge too. And they poof out of existence when they die, leaving behind the seeds. Sometimes meat.” he shrugged.

“W.. Why?” He asked him now, staring at him. “Don’t you think it’s weird that they just.. Disappear?”

“No? I mean, everyone knows that happens. It's a good way of farming seeds really. Though.. “he peered over the mission he had in hand. “Yeah. Eventually not everyone can do it.” 

“So.. When a person dies, do they disappear?” He asked, wondering just how deep this.. Place was. “Is there a heaven? A hell? A God?”

“Um no. People have graves.”he said, giving him a strange look at the sudden barrage of questions. “Are you feeling alright?” 

“I uh.. Yeah, fine.” In a new place and already he was looking like a weirdo it seemed. “Just uh.. Let’s go see these things..”

“Alright.”he grinned. “By the way, my name is Ash, what's yours?” he asked as they walked along now.

“My name?” There was a pause, for a moment he became faintly confused. His name.. He knew his parents had given him one, so why was it so difficult to remember their faces? He was quiet for a while as they walked before it seemed to just appear in his mind. “My name is Heart..”

“Nice to meet you Heart.” he grinned happily. Moving away from the town, slowly and surely, they returned to the forest edge. Close to the house he had woken up in, but not exactly. Arriving to the edge, he picked up a stick and pointed some out to him. “Get one too.” 

Heart started at them, these.. Monsters moving around together. He could see how they were plant types with the way they looked. They were roughly about five feet and a half? Not as tall as him and right now not as threatening looking either. They had a bulb that acted as the center of their body, half green on the bottom and the top came in either orange or pink/light purple. Their feet were four slim feelers, almost vine like by the look of them. They had a shiny and tall neck, and the top of their head looked like beaks in a way - once more with green on bottom and their second color on top. No eyes or ears, but they did appear to have mouths. He was faintly reminded of flowers. Above their heads a health bar suddenly appeared for them along with their names - Lullabud, level 1. 

Heart looked around a little and found a stick, picking it up to look at it. Stick, basic attack weapon. “So just.. Over the head?” He asked, looking back at the monsters that hadn’t spotted them just yet.

“Yup. It'll just take a couple of hits. Though you'll need to be careful of their vine attacks and possible poison attacks. A good tactic would be just hitting them and staying out of their range-" but before Ash could fully explain what to do, the Male had jerked forward. Heart held the stick firmly as the monsters turned to look at his rapid approach. Ash was stunned really as poison balls were spat at him, but Heart dodged the attacks easily. Coming close enough to whack at the first monster, making it poof. Turning on his heel to the second monster and whacking it out of existence before the third seemed to make a noise and ran away from battle. Disappearing into the nearby bushes and out of sight- hell Heart looked like he was about to jump in after him but Ash cried out. 

“Wait! Going into the forest is different Heart… you're not experienced enough for that..”he mumbled. Though at the same time, Heart could feel a warmth course through him. His health bar having a new bar appear, that seemed to sparkle, and increase with five points along the meter. It seemed to be one fifth of the way filled really- but it disappeared in the next moment. Looking at the ground now, he could see little things shining in the grass.

Heart bent down to pick them up, seeds? They were in different shapes and sizes, but he was pretty sure this was what they were. But those points on his health bar - had he leveled up? Well that was the way with most games, you leveled up quickly in the beginning. He looked up at where the plant monster had run off toward, wondering why he didn’t feel afraid.. It was faint and he couldn’t remember very well, but he got the feeling he had gotten into a lot of fights before - in the other world, his home. “Ash, this is enough right?” He asked, showing him the seeds he had gathered.

Ash came over now, and tucked the stick he had been holding away behind his back. It disappeared in the next moment as he peered over the seeds and smiled. “Yup. That should be more than enough. Farmers grind them up even smaller for fruits and vegetables.” he explained.

Heart turned them over a little for a moment before putting them away. “Okay, now to complete the quest.” He said as they started to walk back to the village now. “So.. Why did you help me out?” He asked, looking at Ash.

“Well you looked a little lost honestly. And I had a good feeling about you.” Ash grinned, though Heart got the feeling he was being earnest. “You don't mind me tagging along too right? I'm new to this whole adventuring thing, but I want to form a team to explore the world together.” he said now, stars in his eyes. 

Heart blinked at him. “Why not just go by yourself?” He asked. “Those monsters didn’t seem very strong at all..”

Ash pouted now and said “Well that's no fun.. and monsters get stronger you know. You can’t even join guild runs without a team.. or accept higher level missions without a team. I'm tired of farming seeds.”

“Oh.. It seems a lot more complex than I thought.” Heart looked forward now as at the end of the road he could see where the marker was, showing the end of the quest. “Do you know about the house under the tree on the outside of town?” He asked.

“Hm? House? I think some new person is gonna move there soon. Though I don't know why they'd want to live in Littlebell.. we're a sleepy town.” he muttered before grinning. “But that's why I'm gonna explore this world. Every inch of it.. maybe even challenge the demon king one day.”he said bravely. 

“Demon king?” He looked at him now. That sounded like the final boss to him. “Why would you want to do that?”

“They say when you defeat the demon king, you get the ultimate prize. Something that is so strong and powerful it can grant whatever wish you want.”he grinned. “I don't even know what I'd wish for, but I want to be the one to win it.” 

Heart looked forward again as he spotted the couple waiting by the fence. “You requested seeds?” He asked the pair as he dug them out now, offering it to the pair. He gained two copper coins and still had a couple seeds left over. It was as they were leaving that Heart resumed talking, “I don’t believe in wishes..” He muttered softly. “But I wonder..”

“Wonder what?” Ash blinked now. Stopping now walking as they seemed to be at a fork in the road. To either go back to town, or to go home for Heart.

Oddly, this was how he felt - divided. “It’s nothing.” He looked at Ash now. “Do you want to do more quests? I want to get stronger to do them on my own.”

Ash smiled softly at him and nodded. “Sure! I think if we level up enough, we could do the dagger quest.”he said eagerly. “Actual weapons would make the quests easier after all.” It would be much better than waving around sticks. 

“Yeah, give me a little bit before that one.” He told him before looking thoughtful. He looked at Ash. “Isn’t there a weapon store or something around here though?”

“Weapon store? Sure that's on the other side of town.” he smiled. “I can show you it if you want.. but two coppers isn't enough for things there..” he hummed. “Maybe we could sell our sticks for a copper or two.” he said thoughtfully.

“Can you take me there? I’d like to see what it is they have.” And if his hundred gold told him anything, it was his starting money to buy a basic weapon or armor. 

“Sure.”he smiled and nodded. Guiding him forward now as they passed the market, filled with fruits and vegetables. Ash bought them each an apple. Then they walked past other buildings, a bank, a restaurant, another inn- that wasn't connected to a bar this time. Though biting into the apple, he found it was delicious. Sweet and the juices coursed down his chin if he wasn't careful. His health bar popped up once he was done with it, reading ‘100’ again, but the strange thing was that there were no seeds in the apple. Just the stem and the apple itself. He wasn't sure why it didn't have a core.. but that was for another day. They came to the edge of town now. Ash smiling at his confusion and said “It’s close. Don't worry.” Heart could see the little building, the smoke of a hard forge at its side with smoke pouring out a good indication of a working blacksmith in the weapons shop, but he stepped closer, he suddenly hit a wall. A literal wall that made him face plant into it, preventing him from going further. Ash had kept going but realizing a few feet in he wasn't following, turned back to look at him. “What's wrong?” 

Heart raised his hand and pressed it firmly against the wall neither of them could see. “It seems.. I’m not strong enough to enter here yet.. Or else I haven’t unlocked the quest yet..” Forced to follow the story eh? For some reason that really pissed him off and maybe it showed in his face when Ash looked at him. “Well, forget it for now. It’s annoying we came all this way to find this out but it can’t be helped..”

“Mm. Well I could pool our copper together for a weapon? I mean.. maybe 10 coopers could get you something..” he said thoughtfully. Pulling out now what seemed like a staff. “I'm a magic caster myself so.. I wouldn't have any weapons to share.”

Heart thought about it for a moment. “I wouldn’t know what to get honestly. I don’t think I’ve ever used a weapon before, besides my fist and this stick. Maybe armor then? Something to boost my defence or attack? Though I wonder how much that would cost.. Tsk,” He looked annoyed again. “Then again, you might end up bring me something level based as well.” Then he looked at Ash’s staff, thinking. “What spells can you use?”

“Well I can do a small healing spell for others.. and a base attack spell, but it takes me time to cast both.” he explained. As he leveled up though, things like that no longer became a problem. “Maybe I can get you some armor then, beginner armor, don’t worry, my staff is a beginning staff too.” he said as to not to make the Male feel bad. They were both just starting out it seemed. How convenient.

“Does your staff or armor made a difference in what you can cast? Or how fast you can do so?” Heart asked him, working things out in his head. Right now it seemed that Ash was the mage and he the warrior, he was meant to be on the front lines protecting Ash and Ash himself came in with some strong attacks to deal a lot of damage in one go. Right now though he hadn’t seen Ash in action so he didn’t know how strong those attacks were.

“Yes a better staff means lower cast times, more spells sometimes. As for armor, it just adds better defense, and less health taken when attacked. Well at least for me. Have you chosen a class yet?” he asked now, to return to his side. Having felt silly he hadn't asked this sooner. 

“No.” Heart told him, still looking thoughtful. “Thinking about it though, I’d likely be a warrior. I don’t think I’m the kind of person to hide beside someone or something. I might be a bit reckless as well.” 

“Well do you want to go register your class in the guild? If you don't like it, you can always change your class later on, though you'll have to start over in experience for that class. Though there are some people that level up in more than one class... “he whispered the end part in awe. “...But either way, you can only be one class at a time.”

Heart thought about it, but that seemed like a pain to do at the moment. “Is there a bonus for picking a class?”

“Um… not really? Other than a few cooper for meal or towards items you want to buy.” he explained. It was a small amount, enough to get started really, but that was all. 

“I see.. What level are you?” He wondered as he noted that his Stats - well, at least his attack had gone up by one. Five attack, four defence, no magic at all and a hundred and ten health. Leveling up might be easy enough in the beginning but it seemed he wasn’t really boosting much right now.

“I’m level two.” he smiled, he had worked hard for that. As far as he knew anyways. “So I have six attack, three defense, four magic, 4 stamina for magic and a hundred health.”

“I see, so we’re both pretty low right now.. Leaving the town right now might really be a mistake for both of us.” He said softly. “Well, let’s go to the guild then and sort of class, then take up a few more quests.”

‘Okay.” he smiled. “Don’t worry, leveling up will be easier with the two of us.” he grinned, following him back through the town as the sun was beginning to climb low into the sky. “So what do you wanna do? Your dream, you know?”

“My.. dream..” Heart said softly, thinking. “Right now.. I think I’ve forgotten it. So I guess my current one is to remember it.” He raised his hand up to touch the side of his head, looking troubled. “I know they’re there, memories, but right now it’s difficult trying to remember them.”

“Eh?? You can’t remember your dream?” he couldn’t help but smile, amused. “That’s weird. It’s like you’re a main character or something.” he laughed now. “Don’t you have any family or something to tell you?”

“Yeah, haha..” Heart said as he looked away a bit. “Mm, I don’t know? I guess I can’t really feel bummed out about something I don’t remember a lot. Though.. When you asked me my name, I remembered it because.. It felt like someone I knew used to say it alot to me. I can’t remember them though but I remember the feeling I got when they said it. Maybe I’ll remember later on though.”

“Oh.. huh.” Ash looked thoughtful before nodding. “Well.. I can be your family.” Though at Heart’s confused look he grinned and said “Well… working together and being in a team is kinda like family. We have each other’s backs you know?”

“I wouldn’t really call that family. You’d have to be really shitty of a person to leave your friend’s back open for an attack.” Heart pointed out to him. “You can call it that, I can’t really rip the idea out of your head - yet anyway.. But I’ll just stick to calling us friends.”

Ash pouted a little at his explanation but it did make sense to him. “Okay, okay. Friends it is.” he smiled now. The pair arriving to the guild building again and this time, the large white columns on the outside had lit torches on them. Lighting the entire front of the building up comfortably as entering the place again this time around showed less people. There were some- sitting and chatting, others sleeping in waiting areas, but otherwise, the hub had died down now for the night. Ash got the feeling once he exited the building, he would come out to see night. 

“Heart, over here.” Ash said, having gone to another area of the building in his staring. It seemed like a box. One slot at the top, and a slot on the bottom. “It only needs a cooper for a class change.” he said, pulling out a coin from his back pocket, and slipping it into the coin slot on the side before a paper popped out promptly. On the paper there were only four classes: Mage, Warrior, Archer and Assassin. “Here.” Ash gave him the paper and a little pen that had been spat out as well. “Just checkmark the class you want, and then push it in. You won’t be able to change your class for a whole day though, so choose carefully. Oh and certain quests can’t be done by certain classes too by the way.”

“It is surprising pretty forward.” Heart said as he checked warrior class, a list of weapons he could use appearing on the bottom of the paper now. Swords were pretty common but there were others he didn’t know what they were. He guessed assassin was speed based, mage was magic of course, warrior attack power and he guessed archer was the same as warrior and assassin. Maybe. He guessed the fact that he didn’t have a speed stat meant his was shit, which would make sense given how difficult it had been just to run the last bit to the town. He should start working on that. “And there. But since it’s night and the clerk is gone I guess no quests after all. I should head home then.. After I by some food..”

“Well the quests are still here, you just can’t accept them until the clerks return tomorrow morning. They have to sleep too you know.” he smiled now. Nodding at his words as he said “Is there something you want? Or I guess.. It depends how much we have.” he said thoughtfully. “How about we go use a silver for a good meal at the tavern?” he grinned. “I’m buying.”

Heart flinched when the tavern was brought up. “Um. Maybe not. I can cook a few things.” Better not head back there and have them see Ash buying him food. “It’s fine. We’ll meet up tomorrow here, yeah?”

Ash blinked before smiling. “Sure, see you bright and early then.” he smiled, patting his back now before moving away. Leaving the guild building to head to his own home. 

Heart watched him for a moment before looking over at the request board, moving over to look at the job offers. More seeds, some wood from the forest - normal small village stuff it seemed. A hundred gold was good starting money, but what sort of level should they be to leave? They couldn’t just leave with sticks either, though Ash already had a weapon. It felt like he was going to be here a while, maybe that was why he had started in that house. Was fast travel a thing in this world? If it was that might explain the fancy as hell house too.. 

Turning he headed out of the guild and back to the edge of town, though when he reached the sign he took a deep breath and started jogging now. It took a while, but it didn’t feel as far as when he had first set out to reach the house again. When he did he had raised his speed up by one. Well, it was a start he guessed. Coming inside he found a pot on the table and moved over to it. A meal? A note said it was thanks from the old couple. How had they gotten it all the way out here? Getting a plate and fork, he sat down to eat slowly. The taste.. It was pretty good. Lamb? As he ate he felt tears pooling in his eyes. It felt like a very long time since he had eaten a home cooked meal.. 

End.

Chapter end levels:  
Heart current level one:Six atk, four defense, no magic and a hundred and ten health. Speed one.  
Ash is level two: six attack, three defense, four magic, 4 mp, casting spd 3 and a hundred health.


	2. The Hero and His friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our budding Heroes are learning the ways of the world. Sometimes though, it seems to be more real than Heart had expected. Dreams, Fairies, and monsters to explore!
> 
> Made by Izzy and Wolfshowl526  
> Updates every Friday.

Chapter Two: The Hero And His Friend

Beginning Chapter levels:  
Heart:  
Level 4 Atk: 8 Def:6. Physical Spd:4. Health:125  
Inventory: One stick, four copper coins.

Ash:  
Level 5 Atk: 8 Def: 4 Casting Spd: 6 MP: 6 Health 100  
Spells: Low Healing. (15-25 Possible points per heal) Basic attack, and basic fire both deal 8 attack.  
Inventory: 3 Water (Chance to regain 1-5 stamina points), 5 Fruits or vegetables (One serving gives 1-5 health points), and 3 stew.

Leveling up was coupled with grinding it seemed, and while he had found a couple of quests that gave him some amusing and interesting interactions with the otherwise sleepy town. Still, the barrier out of town and to the blacksmith himself was currently going strong. His stats were close to leveling up, to the point where he was sure that just smacking two or three more monsters would push him over to level five. He had a feeling that this would be the level that would finally allow him through, and though Ash came often to quest with him, he had gone on quests himself as well, in order to catch up to the single level the male had above him. It was how he found the male outside of his home, sitting on the branches and kicking his legs back and forth. Obviously waiting for him to emerge now. 

Though at seeing him, Ash grinned and moved down the tree now carefully before landing down before him. “Good morning. How are you feeling today? I peeked at some of the quests today, and I saw a really cool one.” he said,a edge of glee in his voice. Eyes shining now in enthusiasm. 

Heart raised an eyebrow now at the other, he hadn’t seen him this eager save for when he first talked about the dagger quest. That one they still hadn’t touched, it needed a higher level. “What is it?” But no sooner had he asked that a quest was being shoved in his face. This one meant going into the forest, into a cave where some Howler’s lived to take care of them. He hadn’t seen Howler’s before, he guessed they must be like wolves. But the reward is what made him raise an eyebrow - it seemed there was a chest in the cave and the reward was keeping what was in it. “This seems fishy..” He said softly. “We wouldn’t know what is in the chest would we? And it doesn’t even say who posted it..”

“It’s a magical quest Heart..” he pouted. “I wasn’t high enough level for these before, but look-” he pointed out to the required level now. “See? At least level 4, and there’s two of us. “ He flashed him puppy dog eyes now. “Please? This treasure might be amazing Heart, better than stick, seeds, and clothing drops..” he pointed out now. Not to mention he had already taken the quest, so he would have to do it, with or without him. 

“Fine - fine!” He said with a sigh. So far Heart had been careful to leave his gold back home, but he had learned something pretty interesting. The empty library books suddenly weren’t as empty. Rather they displayed items, monsters and people he had met so far - though one book was still empty so he guessed he hadn’t crossed whatever was meant for that yet. But he had also learned with enough coin he could level up his home. The next level was adding a bedroom but for level three he could hire someone - a farmer, a pet keeper, a maid. He wondered if that meant someone from the village? He shook his head a little to gather his thoughts again. “Let’s buy some food to take with us, it seems pretty far out of town.”

“Thank you Heart!” he giggled, grinning eagerly before nodding. Showing him his inventory now to say “I packed some food for us already. Is there something else you want?” he asked, he had some water, fruits, and vegetables, along with three stews. Which were basically just three servings on the go. 

“No, this should be fine.” Heart said as he closed up his door now firmly. Turning they started off together. “By the way, what are howlers?” He asked. “We haven’t faced any yet. At least I haven’t. Have you?”

“Well they’re like dogs, but.. You know, monster like.” he hummed softly. “I usually just avoided them, since I was a weaker level than them.” He rummaged through his bag now before he said “I hope we can find a assassin class, thief would be wonderful on hunts like this. They increase loot and their rarity.” he said thoughtfully. 

“There’s no one like that in Littlebell though. We’d likely have to go to a bigger place for that. But’s weird, no such place is nearby. People can’t even seem to recall another town’s name. Well, you don’t either..” Heart said in thought. “I think we’re missing something.. But maybe we’re just too low for something like that.”

“...I don’t know.” he shrugged. “Older adventurers say that just how it is, so we’ll find out stuff as we get stronger.” he said, not in the least bit bothered by it all. “Though I hope we can find one soon, or in the next town. Getting loot is going to be important for weapons, and Inns and stuff. “ he hummed. They wouldn’t be able to return home to sleep in their beds after all, well as far as they knew. 

Heart nodded as they walked together, cutting around the edge of the town in order to get to the forest path. He had given up by asking things like ‘what older adventurers’ or ‘how do you know that’, Ash never seemed to know nor really be bothered by it. In a way Heart questioned if Ash was real or not, a person who didn’t care about the past but forged his own future - or just a person supposed to be there.. The later made him feel alone though so he pushed it away. “We’re going pretty far in day.” He said as they moved under the shade of the trees, the forest became thicker the further in they went. “Hopefully we don’t run into a boss..”

Ash hummed softly and said “Well I hope not.. I didn’t stock up for a boss battle.” he frowned. This was more of adventuring inventory than fighting. “If we see it’s becoming too dangerous, we can always leave and come back to it, since I already took it.” he smiled, pulling out his wooden staff now into view as he said “We should check the blacksmith, after we level up from this one. Well, if we do.” 

“I doubt we’re of the level to deal with them. But they might be deeper in the forest.” He said with a nod. They were going far but not that far. “I’m pretty sure with what we meet on the way will be enough.” Sure enough, just as he said that a couple of Lullabud popped out. They were pretty common around here but they were still level one, by now their attacks only did one point of damage now. “I’ll take care of the small ones, you save your magic for the howlers.”

“Sounds good.” he nodded, stepping back to let him take care of the small fries now, and considering they were higher level than them now, he hadn’t taken any damage this time around. He still picked up the drops to sell later or use them to fulfill quests as he said “I hope it’s something we can sell, or maybe a weapon or armor.” he smiled, though Heart could see him daydreaming about mountains of loot or something. 

“Did anyone ever tell you that your head is in the clouds too much?” Heart asked but he couldn’t help but smile a little. 

“Mean. I like to think of myself as optimistic, a go with the flow kinda guy you know?” he grinned. Nudging him back playfully as they walked along. “I mean like, what’s the point of stressing out about things I don’t know or can’t do if I can’t do them at the moment? I prefer to just keep moving forward, and see what comes next.”

“That’s one way to look at life.” He said with a smile. “Kind of.. Refreshing to me as well. So you can under think things and I’ll over think them.” Heart grinned a little at him. They walked and Heart took care of another batch of Lullabud before they found a large lake to rest at just before the cave of howlers. “You want to hear something interesting?” Heart asked as he was handed an apple to eat, holding it up to look at it now. Ash had already learned that when he asked something that he was going to say something weird.

Ash raised an eyebrow and moved to sit down by the lake, drinking from the water skin, and would refill it when he was done. “Sure, go for it.” he smiled with a shrug. He knew something weird was going to come, but he liked hearing his weird ideas. Sometimes it was like Heart was from a completely different town. 

“In my dream,” Heart said softly. “Apple’s have seeds. You can remove them to plant apple trees and if you use a large amount of them then you can even poison someone. Too small a dose, they’ll never move again. Too large and you’ll kill them.” He had already learned he couldn’t talk about his world, so it was better to call it his dream.

Ash blinked at his words, looking thoughtful now. “Wow, you have weird dreams.” he chuckled. Patting the grass next to him, and watching him sitting down now to say “Well, apples having seeds would be nice at least. So we wouldn’t have to be whacking monsters for them. I kinda feel bad for them now.” he chuckled. “But wouldn’t apples having seeds make them monsters too? It sounds kinda scary you know.” he grinned. Looking at him now. Ash was honest, and happy to hear his babbling of course. 

“Not really. They’d just look the same as this, but with seeds at their core.” Heart said as he leaned against the tree now eating it. “They wouldn’t attack you. Compared to this world though you might find that very boring.”

“Mm.. it sounds more peaceful. Less monsters?” he grinned, offering out the water skin now to him. “I like your dreams, they’re interesting.”

Heart sipped it softly, a small amount slipping down the corner of his lips to run down his chin. “No monsters at all, at least.. Not like these.” Heart told him as he gave it back. “The way I see it, monsters here are out in the open - doing what monsters do. But in my dream the monsters are humans, and they’re far worse than these monsters. At least so far.. Even so, depending on how you look at it, it can either be a dream or a nightmare.” He looked at Ash now. “Living in this dream, here with you, I feel calm. I haven’t felt fear once since coming here. I don’t know if that is healthy though, it’s nice..”

Heart could see Ash blush a dusty pink on smooth cheeks before he smiled and looked away. It was as he did that Heart could see something, a ‘+1’ appearing over Ash’s head now, and a new bar appearing. This one merely said ‘Friendship’ though. “Well.. for what it’s worth, I don’t think this is a dream.” he reached over and pinched him playfully as he grinned, blush gone. “See? You felt that didn’t you.” 

It was a good thing he didn’t have the wineskin anymore, otherwise he might have spat it out in shock. Did this game have fucking romance in it to?! So far it had seemed pretty childish. Heart looked away, taking a few breathes. Well, just because it had said that didn’t mean it could turn into romance. So far it just seemed that he was becoming better friends with Ash. Though he wondered if this would update him in his Character Book back in the library? “Yeah, I did. But you know, after being in one dream or another so long - how can you really tell which one is real?” He looked at Ash again with a smile. “I don’t think even if this one turned out not real that I’d forget about you. I’ve never had an elf for a friend.. It feels like I didn’t have a lot of friends in the other dream either.”

Ash grinned and said “Well, who’s the dreamer now?” he chuckled. Moving over to the lake edge to refill the water skin. “Frankly, I think you’re stuck with me you know. Until we become great adventurers, and have lots of loot, and get your dream back.” he said as he stood up now. “Ready to go?” he smiled, offering out a hand for him to stand up.

“Yep.” Heart stood up and dusted himself off now. “Alright. You build up your magic while I keep them focused on me. If we can avoid fighting in the cave itself we should, otherwise we might end up getting trapped.” He said, switching to full warrior mode now. “Let me have that stick you found on the way. I have an idea I want to try with it.”

“Alright.” he reached behind his back and pulled out the stick now to give it to him. Pulling out his wand as well to say “Should I attack the entrance? Draw them out?” He asked now, Heart could feel his magic building up now, like a gentle wind around them forming.

“I’ll try something.” He said as he tucked the second stick away and they moved closer to the den now. Cupping his hands together Heart suddenly let out a very deep wolf like howl into the cave, the sound becoming stronger as it bounced around the stone. Almost at once it was answered from within as now Heart jumped back just one the first one appeared. It did look like a normal wolf, only it was more green and had leaf like petals coming from its back in bring purple. He’d call them more flower wolves than howlers honestly. But the thing that troubled him was the fact that this one alone was level seven. “Shit!” Heart said as he rushed forward, taking the first attack.

Only three points of damage but by having caught it off guard he had stunned it. But in that time more howlers had appeared. Four in trouble, they were outnumbered, but Heart had already learned that they wouldn’t simply gang up and had a span in which they would attack again. Least.. That was how it had gone with the plants. Two lunged at him and he avoided the attack from one, but the other caught his side only to let go when Heart jammed his stick into its eye. A blast of fire went past him to hit the fourth and a glance at Ash told him the other was panicking a bit now at the sight of his bleeding side. This was his first time getting hit and it hurt, like really fucking hurt. The wolf he had stunned jumped at him now and Heart smashed the stick down it’s throat, but it bit and broke it in half - yet that was why Heart had the second and quickly made it appear to knock the wolf back again.

“Ash, focus on damage! When my health gets below half then heal!” He called as the four wolves regrouped now, but Heart charged forward. If he let them rest they would work them down little by little, and if he let up then they would turn to Ash as he built up another attack. Heart scattered them but caught one by the tail, bringing the stick now harshly on its head for five points of damage now, a blast of fire from Ash threw the wolf away for seven points but now another had turned to him. “Ash-”

Ash swung his staff when the wolf drew near, hitting it in the nose for only two points of damage but now another had rushed his exposed back to jump on it - for a moment Ash felt hot air on the back of his pointed ear and the smell of beast breath before Heart was there to knock it off. He turned to find Heart standing in front of him now, protecting him as he hit another wolf back. His side was still bleeding but a cure spell took time, his fire attack was faster so that was what he focused on. Heart howled and charged forward, not letting up and not letting them get near Ash again. When he finally slayed one the battle began to shift more in their favor and Ash fell another with another fire blast. 

Two left and Heart rushed, knocking back one but the second darted around him to attack Ash and bite his forearm - though a second later Heart was there to smash the broken half of his first stick into its eye and slay it as well. The final wolf didn’t have time to flee, a fire attack from Ash sent it rolling and Heart just used his stick to beat it around the head until it finally disappeared and they were left with nothing but the glinting of the items dropped, and their bleeding wounds to show their victory. 

Ash was stunned a little. Their first real battle really as he bit his lip, trying to calm his nerves really as he moved forward now. Using his magic and letting it build for a healing spell. “Oh god, I’m sorry Heart, I didn’t think they would be so strong-” he said, he could hear the quiver in his voice. The faint tears of worry in his eyes. In this moment, seeing the male so worried about him.. It was hard to believe or think that he was anything by real. It was as he was healing him that they both felt it, that familiar warmth of leveling up, it felt warmer than normal really as Ash was focused on healing him- but Heart could see not only his bleeding stop, but their levels and stats increasing twice over. “How are you feeling, does it still hurt?” he asked, there was 15 points left before his health bar was full. He was already building another spell for it as it washed over him a moment later.

“I’m alright..” Heart said, looking at his torn and bloody clothes but the wound was healed now like it had never been there. It was a good thing they had gathered up enough to buy some clothes to spare. “Use your magic on yourself now and eat something. I’ll go check out the inside of the cave for the chest.” He said as he stood up now, still holding his remaining stick though it was close to breaking now. Well, he should be strong enough to handle weak monsters with his fists if it came to that. “Keep a look out and gather up what was dropped.”

Ash sniffled and blinked away tears now, relieved. “Okay.” he nodded. “Come and eat when you’re done.. And call for me if there’s more.” he frowned. He didn’t think there would be anymore.. But he was exhausted. His mouth eagerly latching onto the waterskin now and drinking it down. He pulled out a shirt and pants for Heart, and moved to eat a stew slowly as well. 

Heart changed his clothes while Ash had his back turned and passed them to him when he was done, there was a trailer in town that Ash could take them too in order to get them fixed. With that he headed down into the cave and moved through it carefully. He checked under skulls to find more copper coins but their prize was in the back of the cave, opening to his touch easily. Fifty silver coins and.. 

Coming up from the cave Ash turned around eager to see what they had gotten, Heart holding up.. A lamp? It was a weird looking lamp though, it looked more like a glass jar and yet fluttering within was a tiny little fairy who was smiling happily and seemed perfectly fine to be in this little jar full of tiny plants.

“Whoa.. what is that?” he said in awe. Looking at the little creature that seemed happy. “I wonder what it does..” he said thoughtfully. “Oh, maybe we could check the library, to see what it does.” he grinned. Offering out a stew to Heart now. 

“I’m.. pretty sure he’s a lamp Ash..” He told him softly, not really wanting to piss on the others sunny day but even he couldn’t help but be a bit let down. “He lit up the cave for me.. Ah, but we did get fifty silver coins from it as well. I asked if he wanted to be let out but he said no, I think he’s pretty happy in there..”

“Oh..” he seemed to hum with a pout. Looking at the little fairy how seemed more than happy in there. “..Maybe he’s just a house decoration. I mean, he is supposed to be just treasure I suppose.” he said, tapping the lamp gently as the fairy cooed and flew around the lamp before sitting back down. “...Do you wanna keep it or try and sell it?” he asked now. 

“I’ll keep it.” Heart said as he took it back quickly. “It is our first real mission reward after all. Besides, the house can be a little lonely at times. At least with him I’ll have someone to talk too.”

“...I don’t know if fairies talk Heart.” he pointed out before chuckling. “But alright. He is kinda cute.” he said now. “Come and eat. You need to get back stamina before we start walking back.” The last thing he needed was Heart passing out on him. 

Heart tucked the fairy lamp away and took the meal, eating it eagerly as Ash split the silver between them. “You know what is weird?” He asked as he licked his fingers, finishing up now and nearly capping his health. “I can level up my house. It uses coins and wood to do so, depending on what I want to unlock. Do all houses do that?”

“Yup.” he smiled. “Though we’re a small town, we don’t really bother with that unless our families grow. My house is level 3 really, I have a ton of siblings.” he grinned, though for Heart this was the first time he had heard Ash talk about his family. Perhaps it had to do with the friendship point earlier? “The bigger villages, and towns have bigger and nicer buildings, you know, marble and bricks and whatnot.” he hummed. “To level up the house takes wood and coins, then coins, wood and bricks, and then .. I don’t know but probably another material too.” he smiled.

“A castle - you’re basically saying I can turn my little country home into a fort.” Heart told him and for some reason he worried what the hell that meant if he could turn his home into something like that. “Well, right now I don’t really have a need too so I’m not bothering with it. I just thought it was weird.” They walked together for a bit as Heart thought. “So.. How many brothers and sisters do you have?” He asked, looking at him again.

“Well not exactly a castle, more like.. A bigger home, adding more rooms and stuff. Though I guess you could too? I mean… my parents would know about that.” he shrugged before grinning at the question. Stretching now as they walked back through the forest. “I’m the baby out of seven children.” he said happily. 

“Seven kids.. No wonder why you want to take off, it sounds like you can barely breathe there.” Heart said with his eyebrows furrowed slightly at the idea. “What do they do? Job wise I mean..”

“Well maybe. Don’t get me wrong, I love them to death, but god, they can be a bit much sometimes. Especially since I’m the baby.” he pouted before humming. “My mom makes potions, my dad farms. Usually just to feed the family, and the rest is sold off.” he explained. Really, his mother was the one that made more coin, but potions were always needed.

Heart rubbed the back of his head now, thinking. “Well, you could move in with me? I mean, I have enough to upgrade the house for an extra bedroom anyway. And I’ve been kind of wanting to see what it would do anyway. At least that way you don’t have to come all the way out to my house anymore and we can just go together.”

Ash blinked, looking thoughtful before smiling. There was another ‘+1’ in the ‘friendship’ bar. “That would be awesome. Want me to pay rent too or something?” He asked now. 

“That’s alright, we pretty much make enough with these quests to get by as it is.” Heart told him. It wasn’t like there was bills to pay or rent, so far the cost of living was pretty much the price of food. “When we get to town you can go pack your stuff and I’ll head home.”

“Alright.” Ash grinned. “I’ll head over when I have everything packed into my inventory.” he said eagerly. The pair breaking through now the forest, and entering grassland. Heading towards town now. “Oh should we stop by the blacksmith before parting ways?”

“Ah, that’s right. We should have unlocked it at this stage. Yeah, let’s do that. I can finally switch to a real weapon - er, well see what they have right now anyway.” He said with a nod. “Do you think the blacksmith will know about the fairy lamp?”

Ash looked thoughtful and said “Maybe? He might ask to buy it from you, but don’t okay? Depending who you sell stuff to, they might give you a higher or a lower price than someone else.” though at his look he laughed softly. “I know, I know, not selling, but I just mean for future reference.”

Heart nodded his head as they came to the edge of town now. Though it was as they were walking that he felt.. Odd, like eyes on him. Turning his head, for just a moment, he saw a robbed figure standing between two buildings staring at them. But the moment someone passed by in front of him, he was gone. A chance encounter? Or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him. At this point he couldn’t really be too sure. Looking around a bit more he didn’t see anyone like that again so he wrote it out of his mind. 

On the other side of town, and this time with no wall to get in his way, he finally came to the blacksmith shop - hearing the sounds of a hammer striking something and the heat from within licked at them when they drew closer. He couldn’t really see the blacksmith himself in the back but they could head into the shop, a woman standing behind the counter with a big smile on her face. There were displays of armor and weapons around here, but also some cookware items too. 

Ash smiled as he moved around now. Looking over the staffs they had with bright eyes. The woman smiled softly at the pair and said “Hello, welcome! What can I help you with today?” she asked warmly. Looking closer at the cooking items, he could see they had some benefits to them. Faster cooking times, increased favor, increased ability to add more stamina or heal to food cooked in them- and more. “All the weapons and armor you see will become tailored to your size if your class is able to wield them.” she smiled. So even the largest sword could become Heart’s size to carry easier if he was of a class that could hold it, and a high enough level. Though with the new levels they had gained that day, he found he could easily buy all the swords if he wanted. 

Heart walked around slowly as he looked at each item. For them to leave the town he figured they were going to need to beat the boss of this area first, and if these wolves - howlers told him anything, is that they needed some hard grinding and the best weapons and armor this place could give them. “What’s the best you have for a warrior and mage class?” He asked her now.

“I have two swords, that have recently been crafted.” she smiled, guiding him over to two swords now. Their steel was shining, the edge was sharp, the handle however was pretty simple, and save for the red circle jewel at the hilt, it was just like a basic sword image. The other sword was the same, and had a blue circle jewel. “This sword, has a higher attack skill, with a 45 second cool down. “ she pointed to the red one. “This sword, has a high defense skill, that forms a shield that takes half the damage of an attack with a 30 second cool down.” she smiled now. 

Heart looked very thoughtful now. Both were the same price, but the difference between them could mean life or death. If he was being honest he wanted to buy both of them, he had become rather skilled at quick change of weapons from his inventory. In doing that however he wouldn’t have enough for anything else, let alone the upgrade to the house. Well, he didn’t think they would leave right away so maybe he could grind for the other in his spare time. “I’ll take the defense.” He said with a nod before looking at Ash. “What about mage weapons now?”

“Very well.” she smiled, putting the blue sword into her inventory now to move over to the staffs that Ash was drooling over. “Here I have two staffs that have great quality.” The staffs looked better than the stick staff Ash currently had. They were made of wood still, but the wood seemed to be of better quality. There was a staff that had a golden lace wrapped up it like a candy cane, the other staff was thin, the top shaped in a swirl with a small jewel in the middle of the swirl. “This one here has a bonus of higher mp for the user. Depending on his level, will be how many bonus points that will be added.” She pointed out now to the candy cane one. “This one has a higher casting rate, so all the casting time needed for spells will be cut in half.”

Heart looked at Ash now. “I think you should pick your weapon, but if it was me the higher casting rate is pretty good. Use what happened today with the howlers as what to go on the next time we face a higher level foe. But that being said, being able to do more spells is also pretty good. If we grind for some armor though we might be able to knock it up more, and buy an item that improves your MP without this staff.”

Ash looked thoughtful, and though the swirl one was very pretty, Heart did have a point. He didn’t ever want to not be able to heal Heart at least a bit in battle. That was really dangerous after all. “I think the Candy cane one.” he hummed softly. Nodding firmly at his choice as the woman smiled gently. 

“Very well.” she took the staff into her inventory and said “Will this be a combined purchase or a separate purchase?” she asked now as she moved over to the coin register.

“Combined.” He said as they pooled their money together now in order to buy them, selling their sticks and the bones since they couldn’t use them just yet. It was as they were heading outside, admiring their new weapons, that Heart looked at Ash. “Hey, let me have your old staff.”

“Eh? Why would you want it?” Ash asked now, confused. He wasn’t even a mage class at the moment, and he seemed really happy with his Warrior class.

“I wanna put it above the mantle at home. To show how far we’ve come since first meeting.” Heart told him with a smile. “You’ve had that thing ever since I first met you, it seems a shame now to just sell it after all we went through with it.”

Ash smiled softly before nodding. “You’re really mushy sometimes Heart.” he chuckled before pulling out the older staff and handing it to him. “Okay. I’ll head home now, okay?” he said excitedly. “I’m going to go show off my new staff.”

Heart grinned at him as he took it. “See you later.” He said as they parted now, Heart putting the weapons away before he remembered the fairy lamp. Ah, well maybe tomorrow. Reaching the edge of town he set off in a jog to keep himself in shape and keep raising his speed. Reaching his home he unlocked it and then removed the fairy lamp and held him up. “This is my home, now your home - and soon Ash’s home too.” He said with a nod as he moved around a little. “Let’s see.. Where to put you? On the mantle maybe? Or would that be too hot?”

The fairy jingled a little as he moved. Shaking his head at the thought in a pout. Pointing out now, he liked windows.

Heart moved over to the window now, looking out to the front of the house. He noted the fairy perking up now so he set him on the window seal there, tucking the curtains back so that they wouldn’t close on him. “There, that should do.” He was a bit surprised by how well this house protected against outside elements. “Do you want to come out now?” 

The fairy looked thoughtful again before shaking his head, sending a little kiss up to his cheek before becoming cozy now. Staring out the window happily now. He could see little hearts floating up from the Fairy before they were gone. He supposed he had really made him happy.

Heart blinked a little before turning away now, letting the fairy be as he went to hang Ash’s staff above the fireplace. It looked nice there and he honestly felt a bit pleased with himself. Heading into the library now he pulled up the house menu and selected to add a bedroom, a timer appearing now showing one hour until finished. When he stepped out of the library he saw a rope had appeared over the staircase, closing it off from him and that the gold had disappeared from him. An hour huh.. He headed back outside and to the empty field, pulling out his sword to begin training with it now to pass the time. It was heavier than a stick and so long as he took it to blacksmiths and kept it sharp wouldn’t break on him, he just had to become use to using a real weapon now. He was so focused on training that he didn’t even see Ash right away until he spotted the other waving at him.

Putting his sword away he saw the house was finished now, a bit taller though he couldn’t see the new room just yet. “Sorry, didn’t see you there.” He said with a smile at the other. “Trying to get use to the feeling of the sword. It’s a lot different than a stick..”

Ash grinned and nodded. “Oh I’m sure. It’s heavier, isn’t it?” he smiled, seeing he had built up a bit of sweat. Some of his stamina worn down, though they both needed rest. “You’ll probably have to deal with armor weight and stuff at some point too.” he hummed thoughtfully as they walked back to the house. “Oh I got a surprise. My mom was so impressed we leveled up, she gave me two health potions. Usually they’re expensive.” he grinned as he pulled one out now to offer it to him. “You can use them in battle to heal right away.”

“Ehh? We shouldn’t wastes those then.” He said as he took them, heading inside now for the first time to let Ash see - while he went over to tuck them away safely in his trunk. When he looked over at the staircase it was no longer blocked off. “Oh look, your room should be finished by now.” He said with a smile. “Let’s go check it out.” They headed up and he found that his room was no longer openly connected to the stairs but they now had a small hallway, one door leading to his room and the other leading into Ash’s. Opening it they found there was lots of space and Ash’s bed was mirrored to his, resting up against the stone of the fireplace so that it would keep warm. Though after a moment Heart figured something out. “Hey, I think this room is inside the tree itself..” He said in surprise.

“Really? That’s cool.” Ash said eagerly. Happy for the room despite the fact that it was barebones. Part of the fun of a home was decorating it after all. “This is perfect. I brought all my stuff too, so it won’t be so plain for long.” he smiled. 

Heart went over to the window and from here he could see the still empty barn he hadn’t figured out what was to be used for. “Hey Ash, are there like.. Horses and stuff like that around?” He asked, pointing out the window to the barn as the other was setting down a rug. “This barn has been here for a while now and I can’t figure out what it is used for.”

Ash raised an eyebrow and said “Well yeah, but that’s a special type of barn. Pets can be raised there.” he said, though as if knowing he didn’t know what the heck those were, he added “Pets are monsters you can tame to fight for you. You raise them up from eggs.”

“I haven’t seen anything like that.” Heart said with a frown. “We’ve been traveling in and out of the forest pretty often. Though.. Something like Howlers or Lullabuds wouldn’t come from eggs would they?”

“Howlers, yes. Lullabuds, no. They have to be monsters that can level up with you, you see.” he hummed. “Though I don't know much about them. I never had the coin for a barn. There's also the fact I wouldn't even know where to get the eggs, I just know they exist.” he shrugged. “...We can definitely visit the library for more information on that later though.” 

“I think we should. After today I feel like we could use a break.” Heart said as he leaned against the wall. “It was a real eye opener what happened and it tells me something, if there is a boss around here then they’re going to be crazy strong. Just buying new weapons and armor isn’t going to be enough, we have to level up like crazy too.”

Ash hummed softly and nodded. “Well...there’s always Lullabuds around.” he joked but sighing. “I think our best bet would be to find more howlers, and grind them now to level up faster. And when they become easy, we go deeper in to find the next strongest.” he hummed. He felt that there had to be another monster class before the actual boss after all. Though there was no record of any of that either. They were literally exploring the world together. 

“We should be careful though. We could end up making a mistake and encounting the boss. If we get to the point we can kill howlers in under five attacks or less, then we move on.” He told him with a nod. “And we save our money for armor. I have enough left to unlock a farm, so the seeds and meat we collect can go to our food. I say.. Level fifteen. At the least. And then we’ll try to find out about the boss. Yeah?”

Ash looked thoughtful before nodding. Level fifteen seemed miles away really, considering they had only recently leveled up, but he knew it was better to go to a boss and wipe it out than to risk their lives. This was not a game, or at least it wasn't for Ash. Death meant death, game over permanently. “Yeah. I think that's a good idea. Maybe we could find an egg too. Having a pet to go into battle would be nice.. though that circles back around to any requirements that might have.” he yawned now though. “We can decide that stuff tomorrow though. For tonight, let's get some dinner and some rest in us.”he grinned. “I really think we should buy some pots at one point too.” he said as they made their way back down to the first floor. “More delicious food sounds amazing.”

Heart grinned and nodded. “It does. We should save up for that too, for when we finally do leave.” He said with a smile. “Ah, the pantry is on the other side of the fireplace. I’ve just been getting by with basic meals right now so nothing fancy. Oh and this door is the bathroom, and that one over there is my own library. But it is empty right now pretty much. It has a map of everything we’ve explored so far though.”

“Oh that's cool. I'll look at the map and library later.”he nodded. Heart knew the Male loved to read after all, always after knowledge, even if he didn't always have an answer for things. “Good thing I brought my mom's dinner then.”he grinned. “I'll put all the stuff I brought into the pantry. I brought some spices and meat and whatnot for meals. We just need to figure out recipes themselves, or look some up in the library. I copied some of my moms too, but not to many of them I had to rush over here.”he said. Heart could see him moving stuff from his inventory into the pantry now. The pantry seemed more full, though it was more of a picture of full than actually being able to reach out for said items. “Wanna have a serving of my mama's cooking?” he grinned now.

“Sure, but I gotta warn you - my library has like.. Four books, and one of them is empty. There’s plenty of room for others but that was just what I had.” He said as he rubbed his head a little as the meal was set out before them. “I forgot to ask the blacksmith about the fairy lamp though, let me see if I can find it in ‘items’.” He stood as Ash was getting dinner ready and went into the library, taking the armor, weapon and items book and returning with it. “Ah, it does.” He said in surprise. “Fairy lamps are known to be the homes of fairies, often having been born when the lamp has been forged using holy objects. They are able to cast light in the darkest of places and spells of darkness cannot break their light. When placed in a home fairy lamp’s will offer light protection against dark based monsters and in cases of children and adults alike are known to protect against nightmares. Stacking several fairy lamps can even protect against theft and assassins, however having several fairy lamp’s can result in a couple being formed, in which case their lamps will merge together. How this is possible has yet to be discovered.”

“Wow, they're really useful.” he blinked now. Looking over at the fairy who was asleep now in his lamp. “And here I thought he was just a pretty trinket. “ he smirked, though moved now to eat. “I wonder if there's other cool items like that.. or hm. Finding more would be best. We could visit the market too. Sometimes they have rare items there.”he pushed around his food. “Well once we have coin to spare for that.”

“I wouldn’t mind finding another one then, he’ll be here alone while we’re gone.” Heart grinned as he looked down at his food now, placing the book aside. “A house of fairies. My dream becomes better all the time it seems.” He laughed now, cheeks a bit flushed. 

“Hey it's whatever you like.” he grinned. Pointing the fork at him. “The world is our oyster Heart. We can decide what we wanna do.” he smirked coyly. 

“Ha! Right now the world is a single town and a forest.” He said with a grin. “But later, when we leave, then it shall be our oyster! And we’ll set out to find its pearl. Together.”

Ash laughed. “Details, details.”he waved away the thought before smirking. “Definitely. Be legendary adventurers. Have our names go down in books. Swim in loot banks.”he laughed out now in amusement. Their time filled with merry dreams of silly ideas as they ate. Soon enough though it was time for bed as they parted separate ways, and as Heart settled down, feeling warmed by a good meal and his two new roommates- the house didn't seem so empty anymore. 

It was a little bit into the night that Heart jerked away, feeling something a bit off and eyes on him - though those eyes turned out to be Ash with his pillow and looking very unsure. It didn’t seem that he had spotted he was awake just yet either until Heart rolled onto his side. “Baby..” He muttered. “Just for tonight and tomorrow you gotta get use to it.” Heart said still half asleep as he felt Ash slip into the bed with him now, maybe not having been use to the space of his room or the lack of sound without his brothers, sisters and parents. “You could have said something at dinner..” He spoke softly.

Ash pouted, though with their backs to each other, Heart couldn't see it. “..I didn't want to ask. I mean… it's embarrassing. I've never slept alone before though. I always had to share a room..” he mumbled hugging his pillow close. Who knew he'd be so home sick. “I'm a baby adventurer..” he mumbled into it. How could he get so lonely when he was literally still in the same town as his family? 

“Not really.. It’s just something really new to you.” Heart told him softly, his eyes still closed. “When we get to traveling though there are likely going to be times you get home sick, or we have to sleep back to back. I’m not going to tell you that you’ll become use to it however, maybe you will and maybe you won't. But if you don’t then at least say so, then we won’t have to pay for double beds in a hotel somewhere.” He teased with a light nudge from his elbow.

Ash blushed now, though he couldn't see that either. “...Alright. I'll try my hardest to get used to it.. if not, I'll let you know.”he hummed softly. The silence falling between them before finally saying “...I'm glad I met you Heart. You're like the bestest friend I've ever had.” he smiled faintly.

Heart opened his eyes a little now but didn’t say anything right away, letting a few moments of silence pass between them. “Ash, why did you talk to me that day?” He asked him softly. “When you saw me coming out of the guild for the first time?”

Ash hummed softly. Another pause between them before he said “...You were cute. And the more I stared, the more I realized you looked lost and confused. So.. I wanted to help you.” He hummed softly. “Sorry if that sounds weird..”but he was an elf after all. Sexuality was fluid for him as much as water was.

“I wouldn’t really call me cute. Juvenile delinquency would be a better word for me.” Heart said with a slight smile. “I look like the kind of person that gets in trouble a lot and doesn’t show respect. But maybe you’re attracted to be bad boy Ash.”

Ash blushed and said now. “...I dunno. Maybe.”he hummed softly. As Heart glanced over his shoulder, he could see something different now. ‘+1 <3’ with a heart next to it. Though the relationship bar still said friendship. Heart got the feeling now that this was as far as the conversation would go for the night. “Goodnight Heart.”Ash said softly. 

“Goodnight Ash.” He told him softly, though he didn’t close his eyes just yet as his mind wondered. What was he doing? Forming a relationship with Ash? The lines were becoming so blurred now, which world was real anymore? He couldn’t tell Ash the truth about his dreams, not be choice either - when he tired his mouth just stalled and it felt like he was choking. And when he stopped only then could he breathe again. But so far the laws of this world didn’t care if he called them both dreams. He wasn’t sure Ash believed him on them or not anyway. Should he fully lose himself to this world? Should he allow himself to believe that it was real and the other wasn’t? More than anything, he questioned why it was difficult to remember the other world. Pieces of it were so clear, but his family and friends were blank faces to him. “Ash, I think I’m losing my mind..” He whispered softly, but there was no answer now. If it wasn’t for the weight on his back he might have believed he wasn’t there. Yet feeling it and the warmth of Ash’s body calmed him, comforted him and soon made his eyes close once more. Ash was here, this moment was real. So he’d hold that tightly and not let it slip away from him.

End. 

Chapter Ending levels:  
Heart:  
Level 7: 9 atk, 7 def, spd: 5 and health: 125  
Sword bonus:+3atk and 2 def.  
Inventory: Sword, Ash’s homemade stew (one serving), Two red health potions (Can be bought for 5 silver, sold for two sliver). Health potion can regenerate (20-30 points of health instantly). Coin: 100 gold, 5 Silver, two cooper.

Ash:  
Level 7: 10 atk, 5 def, spd 8, MP 7, health 100.  
Staff bonus:Half casting time for spells, +10 health.  
Inventory: 1 Water (Chance to regain 1-5 stamina points), 1 Fruits or vegetables (One serving gives 1-5 health points), 1 stew, 1 homemade stew. Coin: 5 silver and 5 cooper. Seeds: 6 big seeds, 3 small seeds, 4 flat seeds. Staff. 6 Clothing items (shirts, pants, etc) 2 Damaged clothing items.  
Spells: Low Healing. (15-25 Possible points per heal) Basic attack, and basic fire both deal 9 attack.  
Relationships> Friendship: +2/ 100.  
Relationships> Romance: +1/100.


	3. The Hero,  The Mage, and The Pet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hero learns more about the world he's in, and new questions arise. Who is the man in the hood? Who is the woman with white flowing hair? Will his friend ever sleep in his own bed?
> 
> Made by Izzy and Wolfshowl526  
> Updates every Friday.

Chapter Three: The Hero, The Mage, and The Pet.  
Beginning Chapter Stats:  
Heart:  
Level 6: 9 atk, 7 def, Physical spd: 5 and health: 125  
Sword bonus:+3atk and 2 def.  
Inventory: Sword, Ash’s homemade stew (one serving), Two red health potions (Can be bought for 5 silver, sold for two sliver). Health potion can regenerate (20-30 points of health instantly). Coin: 50 gold, 5 Silver, two cooper.

Ash:  
Level 7: 10 atk, 5 def, Casting spd 8, MP 7, health 100.  
Staff bonus:Half casting time for spells, +10 health.  
Inventory: 1 Water (Chance to regain 1-5 stamina points), 1 Fruits or vegetables (One serving gives 1-5 health points), 1 stew, 1 homemade stew. Coin: 5 silver and 5 cooper. Seeds: 6 big seeds, 3 small seeds, 4 flat seeds. Staff. 6 Clothing items (shirts, pants, etc) 2 Damaged clothing items.  
Spells: Low Healing. (15-25 Possible points per heal) Basic attack, and basic fire both deal 9 attack.  
Relationships> Friendship: +2/ 100.  
Relationships> Romance: +1/100.

Heart was feeling oddly smug today, mostly because this was his first day jogging back with Ash to the town - and he was pleased to find the other had no speed at all. Turns out ‘spd’ for Ash meant how fast he was at casting spells, so by the time they reached the town he was a puddle of boy elf on the dirt with Heart wondering if it was possible for the other to have a heart attack and die. “Ash, you know that I really don’t live that far from Littlebell right?” He asked, though there was smug amusement in his voice. If he had any bars appearing over his head, he swore it would read ‘+1 delinquency’. After letting Ash catch his breath again he helped him stand and dusted him off, then the pair started to head off through town together. “But look, you’ve.. Nearly gotten plus one speed..”

Ash had taken out his water skin, drinking it down thirstfully as he only spoke again when he had finished it off. Tucking the bag away to refill later. “..I’m not a warrior Heart.. I don’t really move that much.” he pouted. Though Heart could still see his rosey cheeks, and faint sweat on his normally clear face. 

“But you should.” Heart told him with a smile and a nod. “You don’t know when speed might come in handy. Think about it this way - we’re in the middle of battle again, only this time you’re able to dodge attacks while still holding focus to cast spells. You might not think it is useful, but in the heat of battle it could mean being able to cast one more spell or losing your arm.”

“...I could heal it back.” he pouted before sighing. “I don’t even know if my class can dodge.” he pointed out now. Though.. He supposed that getting speed might help that. Only.. it was like pulling teeth for his body with the mage class on. “..Maybe I should just switch to warrior to get the speed up.” he smirked a little.

“That’s cheating.” He hit him on top of the head. “But you know that if you do that you’ll have no magic at all right? And in the end I just kept running everyday to build up my speed so you’ll still be doing that. I’ll show you some tricks to it when we make the run back to the house.”

“Maybe.” he mumbled, though he swatted Heart away. He got the feeling he was still pouting at running at all. “Either way.. What are we going to do first?” he hummed, pulling out an apple to chew on it. His sweat beginning to disappear, though he would need a shower later on. 

Heart smiled at him a little and felt like he needed to make it up to him now, lest he be dealing with a pouty elf all day. “How about the library? Now that I can finally go in that area it would be smart to expand my knowing about the land and what we might encounter.”

Ash perked up a little now and nodded. “I think we could buy some books too. Add to your library, I added my books, but it was still pretty empty.” He walked along and said “I checked out your map and books, but the green one and a blue one was completely empty..?” he asked now curiously.

Heart thought for a moment about what he meant. “Ah, well the blue one I don’t know about. We haven’t unlocked whatever it is that it covers. The other filled up when I learned about stuff. The green one on the other hand.. That one must be for my use only.” Though he suddenly became tight lipped about what it was used for.

Ash blinked at his sudden reaction before smiling. “Hey, it’s okay, I have a diary too.” he grinned. Though he didn’t know Heart could actually read his. He patted his back as they entered the library now. So many book around as Ash smiled. “Do you wanna split up? Gather some books, buy them and take them home to read?” Though Heart got the feeling that if he gave Ash the option to actually sit and read, they would be here all day. 

“Ah, no buying.” He told him with a slight pinch to his cheeks. “We need to look for anything about the forest around here. To see if maybe we can get an idea of what the boss is like. As well to figure out the weakness of the monsters too.”

Ash pouted before smiling. “Fine fine, I’ll focus.” he hummed. He was like a child in a candy shop after all. “Okay, I know where the forest section is.” he pointed out, moving away now to guide him deeper into the library. Going up into the second floor as Heart could see Ash wave his hand before five books began to glow a little. “These should be the most useful. Do you wanna sit and read?”

“For a bit..” He didn’t know how well he’d focus on it though. He sat down across from Ash as a book landed softly in front of him, opening it a little. He glazed through it slowly but nothing was really standing out to him. When he had gone through the whole book he hadn’t felt like had learned anything useful. “I’m going to look around for a little bit Ash.” He said as he started to stand.  
Ash was in a book, lost in it really happily as he hummed. “Hm? Sure.. I’ll be here.” he said thoughtfully. He got the feeling that Ash wasn’t going to move unless he made him. Wandering away from the male, there were plenty of other books in the library, separated by categories.

Heart walked slowly among the rows of book, but this library wasn’t the biggest one - or.. So he thought anyway. It was as he was exploring that he found a painting, pausing to look up at it now. “The Hero.. and the Demon King..” He said softly as he looked up at the painting. It showed a simple looking hero going against something that barely looked human. A legend perhaps? Only the more Heart looked at it the more unease he became, almost as though.. There were strings around the pair.. Why did the hero fight the demon king? What was there to really gain? For some reason he strongly disliked this painting..

It was as he looked away, it was on the edge of his vision that he saw something briefly. The demon king having a blurry face, pink hair? Though when he snapped back to it, the painting looked the same. Seemingly unchanged, but he couldn’t help the feeling that something had changed for a brief moment. Turning away from the painting now, he spotted something in a corner. A hooded figure, they were bent over in the corner, pulling a book out, and pushing it back in repeatedly. As if in a constant state of indecision as they didn’t move from there at all. Just repeating the same action over and over. 

There was.. Something.. Heart couldn’t seem to focus on him, as though he was always just a bit blurry and yet he knew he was standing there - wasn’t he? “The hero.. And the demon king fight.. And the winner gets a wish..” Heart said but he wasn’t sure if the worlds were something he said or from someone else. One step forward.. Another step.. Getting a little closer to the hooded figure. Memories were twisting and pulling in his head - New York was a dream - no this world was a dream - which was real and which wasn’t anymore? “Who.. are.. You?”

“Wishes..” the voice seemed to echo. “What are wishes but desires?” The last word echoed in his head, like a headache forming. “Tell me.. Which do you desire to be the dream?” he asked softly, more memories flashing. Of his former family, new york, favorite meals- and then memories of his time here. Ash smiling, eating meals together, the fairies, and monsters he had come across. Which one did he desire more? Which one was more real?

Heart sank to his knees, it hurt - it hurt so much. Which did he desire? What was his wish? The headache was becoming so bad that tears of pain were forming in his eyes. “What.. is this? What are you doing? Desires? Wishes?” He whispered softly. “Why.. do I have to have a wish? Why do I have to make a wish?”

The figure stopped. There was a pause before saying “Wishes are a choice. If no choice is made, then a choice is made.” he said simply. Pulling out the book he had been holding one final time before tossing it at his feet. It was a book that had the forest’s name on the title before the figure turned and walked away. Disappearing from his sight as his body had been frozen from following him, so when he finally regained control to run after him, he was gone. Out of sight and as if he had never been there in the quiet library. 

Slowly he lowered his head to look down at the book, picking it up a little. If no choice is made then a choice is made? The headache was still there, faintly, and he felt like he needed a nap now as he worked his way back slowly to Ash. Nothing seemed out of place here, Ash was still right where he had left him still eating away at the books. He lowered the one he had been reading and placed the new book in his hands, sitting down across from him and lying his head on the table. His face, white and sickly. 

Ash blinked at his appearance and at the sudden book as he got up. Frowning as he touched his forehead. “..Heart? What’s wrong? Are you having a negative status effect?” 

“It’s called being sick Ash..” Heart muttered softly. “Not everything is a spell.” Maybe. “Read that book, I think it is the one that we need. Least it seemed promising..”

“Sorry.. I'm so used to thinking for spells..”he mumbled but sighed and moved over to the book. Flipping through it now quietly to say “Would you like some water or food?”

“I’ll be alright in a bit.. I’m just going to rest my head here for a little.” Heart told him softly as he closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of Ash flipping through the pages slowly and the sound of people walking. If no choice is made.. A choice is made.. Did that mean if he did nothing it was a choice in itself? Or that if he did nothing a choice was made for him? He was looking too far ahead right now for something like that though. After a few minutes Heart felt a little better and stood, resuming looking around the library again - though he stayed far away from the area where he had the encounter and where the picture had been. When he returned it was with another book but this one was more of his own interest. “Look Ash, the Guild to Cooking in the Wild. For people like us.”

Ash hummed as he finished the last page, smiling at the sight of the book now. “Oh that is amazingly needed. Especially in our soon to be travels.” He stood up now and flipped the book open now. Pointing to a flower sketch of a wolf as he smiled. “I found out who the boss is. Some old strategies to try and beat it.. but I couldn't find anything on someone actually beating it.”he hummed softly. 

Heart looked at it closely now, leaning over Ash’s shoulder. “It’s strong and fast by the looks of it, and it says that it has special attacks too. Makes sense. Three huh..” He frowned as he sat down now, his face thoughtful. “If we go in recklessly we could end up dead.”

“...Well that's why we were going to level up as much as we can.” he hummed softly. “...I think I could try and learn a new spell too.. but it would take some time too.” he said thoughtfully.

“... There is something else.” Heart said, looking at him now. “This morning I checked out the house while you were showering. The house.. I guess knows that you’re living here now, so I have a new upgrade we can get. It isn’t for my class so all I know it is a potion shop opened in the back of the house, in that empty storage area. I think you can learn alot from that if we unlock it, but we need special items for it. Wood, coins and something I don’t think we can get in this area - called ‘Witch Glow’. I don’t know what that is and it isn’t in my books. Maybe we should ask your mother about it?”

“Oh.. I see.” he frowned a little in thought before nodding. “We can ask her when we leave town later on if you'd like. Her potion shop is amazing, very expanded and detailed.” he hummed, though starting out, it wouldn't become as grand without upgrading.

“Sure. Let’s spend today making a plan and work toward it.” He said with a nod, smiling at him. “I need to go take care of something now, will you be alright - and not spend all our money - if I leave you here?”

“Fine fine, I won't open my poor coin baggie.”he smiled softly. “I'll study up some more too in the meanwhile. About plants, herbs, monsters and whatnot. I can add notes to your library.” 

“Look, when I come back, have a stack of them and we’ll pick which one we’ll buy.” He said as he messed up his hair now before heading out. He headed to the blacksmith which wasn’t as far from it, entering into the shop to find the woman from yesterday still there though there hadn’t been any noises from the blacksmith itself. “Hello, do you remember me from yesterday?” He asked, coming to the counter.

“Of course.” she smiled happily. “Bought some of my top weapons for yourself and your friend. Have you come back for another one?” she asked knowingly. As if knowing Heart still had his eye on the red jeweled sword. 

“I do, I won’t lie about that. But it’s going to have to wait. Can I make a special request for a weapon?” He asked her now. He still planned to buy that red jeweled sword, but right now he had another idea in mind.

“Oh? What type of request?” she smiled. “My husband can do some upgrades and requests, depending on what the nature of them are.” 

“I want to have two daggers made. They don’t have to be big or fancy, in fact it is better that they aren’t. I want them small enough that they can be hid in our clothes but easy enough to pull out when needed.” He told her, giving her a rough size. “But they have to be sharp, strong enough to cut through human skin.”

The woman blinked at the..very specific request. “...Weapons are usually used to fight monsters, young adventurer.” She said as if confused. “Is there a specific reason why you are requesting daggers such as this?”

“Monsters aren’t the only people out there.” Heart told her now, his face set. “If we should happen across some unsavory people attempting to rob us by holding one of us, we need something to break out. Something that doesn’t have us pulling up our menu in order to get. Say like this, if someone came up behind you, arm around your throat and the other pinning your arms down, how would you get out?” He asked. 

The woman hummed softly, but his logic was sound, and he didn’t seem like the type that was hoping to use such items for ill purposes. She sighed but nodded. He had a point, and at the end of the day, they only made weapons, they couldn’t control where they ended up down the line after all. “Very well. Considering this is a special request, this will be a high quality item made, and the coin will reflect that.” she warned but.. Decided to go easy on him. “I will give you a discount however, if you can bring me already made daggers, then my husband would merely have to tailor them rather than making them from scratch. “ 

“I remember there being a quest for daggers that Ash and I haven’t touched.” Then his eyes gleamed. “Oh.. This might be my chance to get a level higher than him.” He nodded his head. “I’ll come back once I go check out the quest. If I don’t then I’ve headed off on it.”

“Very well.” She smiled. “Our shop closes at sundown though.” she reminded him gently. Most shops in town did around sunset after all. 

“Alright.” Heart turned and hurried out now, running all the way back to the guild. He and Ash had seen this quest before, but as neither of them were assassin class had given up on it. Reaching the guild he moved inside and went to the request board to see what it was that it was asking for in the first place. Since it was something that had been here since he first got here then he guessed it had to be something strong.

Picking the quest off the board, he realized the quest was to pick some herbs in an area where he knew that howlers frequented often. He recognized the last name of the person who had put up the request- it was the same last name he had read on Ash when he had looked into his character book. No doubt the quest was from his mother himself, or someone in his family. 

Howlers.. That could be troublesome. Heart thought about it carefully, eyeing his new sword before settling that the risk would be worth it. They were going to need these daggers after all to protect themselves outside this sleepy little town. He went over to the clerk and stamped off on it, then tucked it away as he rushed off. He would have to be very careful but the way he figured it Howlers had to be the strongest monsters closest to the village without going deeper into the forest. Having fought them before gave him the knowing of how they worked too. 

Heading out of town he carried on a steady jog as he followed the path, easily taking care of a couple of smaller level monsters along the way. It wasn’t in the same spot as the other Howlers, rather these went to a path to the right leading away from the lake. Looking up toward the sun he noted it was already passed noon now and hoped that Ash wouldn’t be too worried about him. If push came to shove he was just going to have to bolt. 

Coming to the area he spotted only two Howlers moving around, it was a dead end here meaning he couldn’t go further in but he wondered if that meant they could bail. Either way, they were too far into the area for him to do a surprised charge at them. Taking out his sword Heart stepped out from his hiding spot and calmly walked forward now, the Howlers spotting him after three steps and growled at him. He had faced them already, they didn’t frighten him now, and he didn’t have Ash to worry about. “Come!” Heart shouted at them and they charged, Heart waiting for the last moment for them to strike before dogging to the side, swinging his sword to cut along one of the Howlers side and take first blood from this battle. They danced around each other and Heart took his time now, studying them. The boss of this forest was a massive wolf after all, perhaps by studying the Howlers he would get a better idea of how to beat them. But for a moment he was careless, stepping on a stone that made him lose his balance and allow one of the wolves to sink its fangs into his shoulder. Heart cried out in pain but then wrapped his arm around the Howlers back and charging forward, slamming it into a tree to force it to let go and then bringing his sword down to cut along its neck to end it. The other jumped on his back and now Heart dropped his sword, reaching up to grab onto its ears and drop his body forward to throw it off. The sword impaled itself into the beasts chest, ending it, and Heart - a little blooded, came out on top. But damn, he was only a little short of leveling up. Another Howler would have done it but then again another Howler might have meant too much for him. 

Moving around he picked the herbs that were on the flyer and gathered as many were in the area, standing up to begin heading back. Ah he should really see about armor now or at this rate he was going to end up going around fighting naked. He didn’t think the monsters would care but that would sure freak out any thieves they came across. He chuckled a little to himself and idly cut the head off a Lullabud as he passed. “Naked Hero.. Huhu..” 

Reaching the town he followed the end quest to reach Ash’s home - least he thought it might be his home, it looked like the kind of place that would have seven kids. Moving around the side he found the shop opening and stepped inside, finding it full of glass vials of different colors and sizes. The one that stood out to him most was the mega-health behind the counter. That thing healed a hundred damage in one go, but it was insanely priced. “Hello?” He asked, gently hitting the bell.

At the sound of the bell, a beautiful elf woman entered from another door. One that seemed connected to her home. Even in a corner, he could see a fairy lamp- but the fairy wasn’t in it. Probably inside the home itself. “Hello~” The woman smiled softly at Heart. “Red hair.. Ah, you must be Ash’s little friend, yes?” she asked as she moved over to the counter now, putting on a clean apron.

“I finished your quest.” He told her as she noted his torn and slightly bloody clothes before looking at the counter as he pulled the herbs out.. A lot of herbs. “The flyer didn’t say how much you needed so I brought a lot. Do you still have the daggers?”

“Oh my, this is much more than I had expected, not many adventurers can go in those areas for long.” she chuckled. Usually it was passing adventurers that filled her quests after all. “Come here please.” she smiled as she pulled out the daggers from her inventory, but said “Ah, you’re really close to leveling up, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah, but the smaller level one monsters don’t give as much anymore. If there had been one more howeler I would have had it, though I might have lost something too.” He said as he picked them up, turning them over. They really weren’t worth much, but for what he wanted them for they would be good enough. “I’m going to take these to the blacksmith and then go run crazy in the forest until I do. To see the look on Ash’s face when I come back a level up..” There were stars in his eyes, the same kind of stars Ash got when thinking about money.

“...Ah, I can see why you’re Ash’s friend now too.” she couldn’t help but chuckle. Shaking her head before putting the herbs into her inventory before taking one of them and moving over now to the corner. “Give me a second, I’ll give you a bonus reward, since you brought me more than I was even expecting.” she smiled softly. He watched as her hands moved like magic, The herb added to a bowl, a liquid from a vile added, then another liquid added as she stirred it all with one hand. He watched as the liquid and mashed herbs turned into a soft, baby blue color. She then moved over to him and poured the new liquid into a small vile. Not all of it, but enough to fill it. “Here, drink up.” she said as she moved to fill other small vials with the rest of the liquid.

“Fancy..” He said as he took it, sipping it softly now. “Tastes like bubblegum too.” He downed it now and felt a warmth slipping through his body as he leveled up. Plus one att and def. He grinned as he handed her back to the empty glass. “Thanks, this is just what I needed. Ah -” He blinked as he remembered. “Do you know what Witch Glow is? I can make a potion shop behind my house, but I’m not sure what that is.”

The woman blinked at the question before chuckling. “...Are you sure you want to make a potion shop? I don’t think Ash is ready for it..” she said worriedly, though he got the feeling she was just being a worried mother. 

“Well, we settled that we won’t take on the boss of this area for a while so we have to work hard on getting stronger. Ash is doing his part, but his magic can be boosted the same way my spd or att can be. For him to improve it he needs to cast a lot more spells or make potions.” He told her, frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m trying to help him get some speed too because it’ll help him out in moving around. When we faced our first Howlers he was pretty much a sitting duck while he was charging his spells. The new staff will help sure, but it is just a tool - one that if the wielder doesn’t improve as well doesn’t amount to much. I’m also going to teach him some self-defence as well, that is why I wanted the daggers, because I feel sure that we’re going to run into some bad humans out there.”

Maria smiled softly now at his detailed explanation of their plans. He could see a ‘+1’ and a relationship bar of just ‘Acquaintance’ appearing. He supposed that had to do with his relationships with other.. Less important characters. What was new now though, as that he felt another fluttering feeling. A ‘+1’ being added to a new bar, charm. And just like that, he felt that he had discovered all the important bars when relating to relationships. “You’re a little charmer, aren’t you? “ she chuckled, shaking her head now. It was basically what she had needed for reassurance that her child would be well taken care of by his teammate. “Witch’s glow is the sweat from a magic user that’s female. So I apply, and dark witches apply too. Warlocks don’t unfortunately.” she said with a faint smile of amusement. 

She moved away now and looked up at her shelves, there was a bunch of potions, it was hard to believe she knew what each of them were without labels but she didn’t hesitate as she reached out to pick a small vile. This one was even smaller than the experience bottle he had just taken, and the liquid a sparkling pink. “Here. You’ll have to see to the wood and coin yourself though.” she smiled. 

He accepted it and nodded. “There should be some Woodlings around that I can slay for it. But first the blacksmith before they close.” He smiled up at her. “Thanks for this. This is really going to help us out when the time comes.” He waved and headed off now, running across town in order to get to the blacksmith. Reaching it he caught his breath and remembered he hadn’t healed his wounds just yet, but the wasn’t bleeding anymore so he didn’t worry. 

Coming inside the smiled a the shop keep and placed the daggers on the counter. “Will these do?”

The woman blinked at the sight of him and said “...Yes, but you should heal soon.” She took the daggers now and said “Please come back in a day for it to be done, and you can make your payment then once my husband completes it.” She gave him a sympathetic look for his state of being, but otherwise said nothing else.

Heart nodded and grinned at her. “I’ll be alright.” He said, trying to assure her before leaving. Well, that took care of his tasks at least. He figured by this point Ash should have found some books so he headed back to the library in order to see how he was doing. And to show off a bit. Coming inside he found Ash waiting for him by a desk near the counter and trotted over, grabbing his shoulder when he drew near to tell him that he had returned. “So what’d you find?”

“Oh I found so many, I mean maybe they’re not all important but-” though he paused now and blinked at Heart. Feeling him stronger as he looked both confused and pouting a little. “You leveled up? How? We still were a bit away from a level up..” he said as he poked his cheek almost accusingly. 

Heart grinned at him. “I went and did a quest for your mother. Nice woman. But, more importantly, I got Witch Glow. Once we get the wood from some Woodlings we’ll be able to build the shop in the back.” He told him, settling to leave the daggers until tomorrow. “Alright, let me see what you have.” He turned to the books now. The book about the monsters of the forest and the cookbook for when they were on the road was a given, so now he turned to see what else Ash had picked out.

“Traitor.” Ash pouted cutely before humming and looking at the books. “I chose a book on monsters, turning them into pets. Apparently they have specific things they like, so that one is more a guide. Oh- and this one is a guide on how to raise them, apparently they can leave you if you abuse them or they don’t form a strong enough bond with you.” he rummaged through some of the books he had been flipping through before grinning. “Oh I found out that they can take humanoid forms too, the really rare ones.. And supposedly they can talk to you and everything too. “ He said, beginning to babble about a few others. Other than a spell book that he pointed out, Heart felt that.. The others could wait. 

He picked up the spell book and set it aside. “Those are nice and all, but we haven’t gotten to that point. So we’ll just take these three and later on we’ll return for those.” He picked them up and headed to the front desk, paying for them. Though he was a bit surprised when they just disappeared.  
“They’ll reappear at your home.” The woman said with a smile. “Certain items you buy don’t go into your inventory but go right to your home, to avoid taking up space. Food doesn’t because food can be used to restore health.”

“That’s really useful.” Heart noted and it made sense to him anyway. “Alright Ash, let’s explore the town a bit more until it is time for Woodlings to come out.” He grinned at the other.

Ash smiled and nodded. “Alright, we can go explore the other side of town. Maybe there’s other shops or something.” He moved to put the left behind books back, and regained his side in front of the Library. “So you met my mom?” he asked now curiously. “What did she say?” 

“She was pretty nice, worried about you.” Heart told him. “She also said something about understanding why we were friends but I didn’t catch what she meant by that. But I assured her that we’re going to train hard to become stronger before we did anything crazy.”

“I think that the treasure quest was pretty crazy.” he smiled softly. “But I’m glad, she won’t worry so much- or well as much anymore.” he hummed as they walked along. They crossed now to the other side of the town, passing the Bartender and entering the last bit of the town. Some of the shops already looked like they were beginning to prepare for closing at sundown. A bakery, a herb shop, and a clothing shop. Though there was a building that was.. More off to the edge of town. It simply said ‘Spice’ and Heart felt that it wasn’t just another herb shop. Though Ash was more peering into the bakery. He felt that ‘Spice’ would open when sundown came.

“Uh.. Ash?” Heart waved his hand a little, eyes narrowed a bit as the other popped up by his side. “Is.. Is that what I think it is?” Surely not. Surely a tiny little town like this wouldn’t have something like that. Blood was one thing, but that - surely not..

Ash blinked. “It’s a pleasure place, isn’t it?” he asked now, though he didn’t seem bothered. “..Pets work there usually.” he explained. 

Heart snapped his head to look at him sharply. “What? Why would pets work in a place like that?!” He asked, sounding hella surprised. 

“Well.. it’s only the human ones.” he hummed softly. “And pets can be humans and non humans too.” he explained. 

“You raise a pet up just to turn it into a whore..” Heart muttered as he looked back at the building, watching the lights starting to come on now. “I don’t know.. If they’re happy does it matter?” He shook his head a bit, but they didn’t have this back in New York. Hookers never wanted to be hookers after all.. “Come on, we should hurry to the forest now to get the wood.”

“I don’t know.” Ash hummed softly. “I don’t think it’s right either.. But I mean, it’s up to their owners so.” he hummed softly as he pulled out his staff now and nodded. Walking with him to return to the forest. “..You wouldn’t do that to a pet, right?” he asked softly. 

Heart shook his head a little. “People.. Who do that job, rarely do it because they want too.” He said softly. “In my dream and in this one, I think it is the same. But you can’t fix everything I guess..” Though if he thought that he could he would have wanted to try. “We’ll raise our first pet upright and not make them do that.”

Ash perked up now happily and nodded. “Yeah, we’re gonna be good owners.” he smiled softly. Traveling through the edges of the forest, and a lit inside it, it was a bit strange. Considering there was no monster around. Not even spawning as fairly often as they were used to. “Do you think it has something to do with night?” he asked now worriedly as Heart didn’t seem to know what to make of this either. Continuing forward though, all they could find a few stragglers of Lullabuds. Even when they entered a depth of where Howlers would normally be in. “...This is weird Heart, we should go home.” he said now in a whisper, as if something would jump out at them any moment.

Heart looked around slowly. What monster was afraid of night? He closed his eyes and listened closely to the sounds of the forest. Something wasn’t right, something was out of place.. The snapping of a twig made him swung around and meet the smaller blade having been inches from sinking into his shoulder. “Show yourself!” He said loudly. “No monster attacks another monster.. And no monster fears another.”

“Heart?” Ash whispered, not thinking that calling for whatever the monsters were scared of was a good idea. Though in the next moment, the bushes rustled, a figure appearing from nothing as Ash hiccuped. “Invisibility spell..” he squeaked, though what Heart saw was her level- Sixteen. They would be obliterated if they entered battle with such a huge level gap. “Let’s go home- she’s a pet..” he whispered, but Heart could tell she was a human, despite her level.

Heart started at the spot but didn’t move right away. But Ash was worried and they didn’t stand a chance right now, he couldn’t tell if there were others either. “Keep your back to me and move slowly Ash..” He told him, keeping his weapon out. “We’re leaving - we don’t want to mess with you. Yeah?” He said as they edged down the path. “When we hit the fork again we run Ash..” Heart muttered under his breath.

Ash was trembling a little as he pressed against his back, he could feel the male building a spell just in case, as they moved along. Not letting the spell go unless he needed to.. But with Heart, he found the female just staring at the pair boredly.. Maybe faintly curious? He couldn’t tell, but her beauty was almost inhuman. The skin tight outfit, bathed in various shades of red, only fit her shapely body like a glove. The large metal collar around her neck was enough of an indication that her service was not so willing. They reached the fork in the road soon enough though, and Ash had dragged him into his running- though Heart knew that he would be faster running and carrying them both. 

Heart ran closely behind Ash, one hand on his back and by the time they reached the village Ash had gained a level in speed. He looked behind them but saw nothing that told him they had been followed. “That was bad..” He said softly with a frown. What had she been doing out there? If there were no monsters around had she been leveling up and collecting the stuff for her master? “What kind of pet was she? Nothing like we have around here comes even close to her looks..” Human or not, shouldn’t she have some tell as to what monster she had been?

Ash looked like he really was about to have a heart attack, his stamina having gone up. Though he was shaking even more from all the running and fear. “I.. I don’t know.” his voice shook a little. “Maybe.. Maybe.. One of the books in the library could help..” though Heart could tell he was either close to crying or having a heart attack- looking over him, he could see why. ‘Fear’ status ailment was flashing over his health bar. Ash didn’t even know what he was more scared about, the woman, or the fact that they could have been ambushed or something. 

Heart rubbed his back softly. “Hey, it’s okay Ash. We’ll check it out tomorrow so how about we go home and you can read your new books? I’ll make dinner.” He lead him away from the forest now, keeping an arm around him to help comfort him. He hadn’t been able to see anything but her level however, so he wasn’t sure what to make of what they had just seen. But he knew he had seen some kind of chain around her neck. Maybe he’d ask the blackshop keep about it tomorrow when he picked up the daggers, Ash didn’t seem able to answer anything right now. They didn’t bother running home that evening and having found no Woodlings they couldn’t unlock the potion shop that night, thankfully the little fairy lamp took away Ash’s fear status the moment they walked through the door. “Let’s have some roast meat tonight. Something to really fill our stomachs.” He said, still having that meat from the howlers he had killed.

Ash bit his lip, though Heart could tell he wasn’t very happy at the moment. Neither of them were really. “Okay.. “ he said softly. Holding the hem of his shirt a little as he said “...Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Heart looked back at him after he had pulled the meat from his inventory, noting that even though he was cured of ‘fear’ he still looked uneased. “Yeah. How about we move the fairy lamp into the bedroom tonight as well? He can hand beside the bed..”

Ash smiled faintly and nodded a little. He could feel his mood perking up a little at the thought. “Sorry.. I froze so much..” he muttered softly. Realizing he had let fear hit him, but a person couldn’t remove their own status ailment without an item. Or rather, he still hadn’t learned a status ailment removal spell.

“Hey,” Heart moved over to sit beside him. “You can’t help that man. We haven’t even broken double numbers in our level. To see someone as strong as that? It wasn’t like the Howlers, not in the least. But someday we’re going to break level 16 and then some greenhorn punks will fear us.”

Ash couldn’t help but snort a little at the thought. He was sure that Heart would like running around to make new bloods piss themselves thought. “..God, you’re terrible.” he smiled softly. “..Yeah, Yeah you’re right.” he relaxed a little now. Still uneasy, but no longer high strung. “We just have to be careful.. No more deep forest at night. At least, not for a while.” he grinned.

“Yeah.. We’ll wake up early and go look for the Woodlings.” He told him softly as he got up again, taking the meat off the bone now. “Let’s see that cookbook. We’ll make something out of it using Howler meat and what we got. Might as well get into the habit of eating wild, right? Ah, but tomorrow I’ll make you something special. Something from my dream.” His eyes twinkled a little.

“That would be nice.” he smiled softly. “It would be cool to have something from your dreams. Just don’t poison me.” he teased now playfully.

Heart:  
Level 7: 10 atk, 8 def, Physical spd: 5 and health: 125  
Sword bonus:+3atk and 2 def.  
Inventory: Sword, Ash’s homemade stew (one serving), Two red health potions (Can be bought for 5 silver, sold for two sliver). Health potion can regenerate (20-30 points of health instantly). Coin: 50 gold, 5 Silver. Witch’s glow.

Level 7: 10 atk, 5 def, Casting spd 8, MP 7, health 100.  
Staff bonus:Half casting time for spells, +10 health.  
Inventory: 1 stew, 1 homemade stew. Coin: 5 silver and 5 cooper. Seeds: 6 big seeds, 3 small seeds, 4 flat seeds. Staff. 6 Clothing items (shirts, pants, etc) 2 Damaged clothing items.  
Spells: Low Healing. (15-25 Possible points per heal) Basic attack, and basic fire both deal 9 attack.  
Relationships> Friendship: +2/ 100.  
Relationships> Romance: +1/100.


	4. The Hero, His Friend, The Boss And The Twins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hero faces a new encounter! How will he deal with all that spice, and a monster to boot? Join us once more for a chapter filled with drama, new friends and foes to beat!
> 
> Made by Izzy and Wolfshowl526  
> Updates every Friday.

Chapter 4: The Hero, His Friend, The Boss and The Twins  
After Time-skip stats:  
Heart:   
Level 15: 30 physical atk, 22 def, Physical spd: 21 and health: 139  
Blue sword bonus:+2 atk and 4 def.  
Red sword bonus: +4 atk and 2 def  
Inventory: Swords, Ash’s homemade stew (one serving), Two red health potions (Can be bought for 5 silver, sold for two sliver). Health potion can regenerate (20-30 points of health instantly). Coin: 24 gold, 16 Silver. 2 Poor health potion (Heals 10 health instantly, first potion recipe made from Ash).  
On Person: One hidden dagger.

Ash:  
Level 15: 26 spell atk, 13 def, Casting spd 20, Physical attack 5, MP 21, Physical speed: 7 health 108.  
Staff bonus:Half casting time for spells, +10 health.  
Inventory: 1 homemade Keema Peinirli, with egg. Coin: 12 silver and 7 cooper. Seeds: 3 big seeds, 6 small seeds, 2 flat seeds. Staff. 1 Clothing items (shirts, pants, etc). 3 Poor health potion (Heals 10 health instantly)  
On person: One hidden dagger.  
Spells: Low Healing. (20-30 Possible points per heal) Basic attack, and basic fire both deal 9 attack.  
Relationships> Friendship: +5/ 100.  
Relationships> Romance: +3/100.

 

It had happened, the quest had appeared when they had still been level thirteen but they had aboved it at the time. Everyone knew however, at it had gleamed and seemingly snarled on the board, that it was ‘their’ quest so it had remained untouched during that time. Heart had called it a good sign, it meant that the lowest level that one could face the boss had been thirteen, so they had trained like crazy to get their last two levels. They no longer needed their weapons to deal with the level one monsters, even Howlers were hardly anything - now only the Chobin Hood ( a demi-human rat like creature that fired arrows at them ) only gave them slight trouble. But they had been useful to teach Ash to dodge however. Today was the day, the entire town felt it, and for the normal early risers appearing in the guild saw that the quest had been taken down and accepted already.

The bell to the blacksmith shop rang as Heart and Ash stepped inside, their faces set rather than cheerful. Even the blacksmith was waiting for them as he stood behind his wife, arms crossed over his powerful chest. “Whatever you have for defense.” Heart said as he stood by the counter. No stronger weapons had been made for them, and resting in the band of their pants were their hidden daggers. He had trained Ash in human self-defence, something that had meant him getting stabbed by that weapon in order to let Ash get use to it. They had done that at home as to not alarm the town’s people.  
The woman smiled softly, her eyes shining a little as if she knew as well. They were all happy to have a huge monster like that removed from so close to their town, and their homes. “We have special accessories for you both now. I’m glad you dropped by before leaving town.” She smiled. Moving over now, beyond the counter they were so used to seeing her. Gesturing to a beautifully wooden cabinet. They had seen that cabinet there since they had first entered the blacksmith’s shop, but only now did they see it open up now with a special key that she used and it disappeared. It shone for a moment- like opening a chest before it revealed two items. A bracelet, that looked both elegant and masculate, and a necklace with a deep emerald jewel in the middle. 

“These accessories can be equipped with ease. The steel bracelet has a skill of increased mobility for warrior classes. The necklace has a skill of increasing defence by seven points.” she smiled softly now as the pair oogled the items.

Ash and Heart looked at each other, nodding their heads as Heart took the steel bracelet and Ash the necklace. Right now, anything could be used to keep them from dying. “How much?” Heart asked her after he had fit it on, already beginning to pull out his coin purse.

The woman smiled softly and said “It’s free, on the condition that you two come back often to see our shop, and help with any quests we might need.” 

“In that case we’ll each buy one more item from you.” He said with a smile. “And promise to come back from time to time.” If they lived. For the first time Heart was feeling his heart fluttering in his chest. Fear? Eagerness? He wasn’t sure, but it thrilled him.

Ash grinned coyly. Knowing that look in Heart’s eyes, and knew.. They were either going to go kick ass, or get their ass kicked. Either way, he was ready for both. The woman chuckled and said “Come back when I have something nice and expensive.”

Heart grinned as they headed out, though he wondered if that had been her way of keeping them from getting too powerful to make it easy. Coming outside they headed down the path to come to the edge of town leading into the forest where Ash’s family and several other people they had helped out around town were waiting for him. Ash’s mother looked ready to cry as she handed them two more potions and Heart got the feeling it had taken a lot of control for her not to hand them the entire store. Some people gave them food and water, since just getting there was going to take a bit. 

Heart watched Ash hug them before together they set off. Neither of them said anything at the moment, a month of training had brought them this far together and they had spent the night before going over their plan in length. The only thing they were missing right now was a badass song playing over them. Ash didn’t even bother attacking when a monster encountered them and yet even then attacks were very thin today, as though the forest itself knew what was coming and monsters held back - as though to see who would become the new king of the forest. 

It took them close to an hour to reach the cove, and looking around Heart knew that once they jumped down that they weren’t getting out until someone was dead. He could see the cave where the boss was waiting, a low rumbling growl echoing out from it promising death for anyone foolish enough to enter it. “Last chance Ash,” Heart told him, looking at him now. “We can walk away right now, keep training..” From where they were standing they couldn’t even see a hint of what level the boss was. 

This was it. It felt like years since they had met, and certainly having trained his stamina for a while there had felt like years with each level. Though he smiled and said “I think we can do it, we stocked up just for this.” he nodded firmly. “...Besides, if we don’t fight, we’ll never know what level he even is.” he hummed. They had to be a couple of levels above the boss himself by now- or at least that was his hope. “We got this. Just remember the strategies, just in case he’s insanely stronger than us.” 

“Looking around at this it’s clear we’re not getting out without the death of something.” Heart said as he took out his red jeweled sword first. “No use thinking about it then. Tuck and roll!” He said as he ran forward, jumping off the edge and tucking himself so he rolled forward when he hit, taking no damage as he did so. But when Ash joined him, when they stood up, something new popped up that Heart had never seen before. A quill writing? Then he spotted the words under it and his heart plunged - Auto Save..

It was very real, it had all become really real as the giant wolf, covered in colorful feathers along it’s head to its tail. It rose up slowly, getting into a fighting stance as Heart’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of his level for a moment. Level Twenty, far beyond what they were. Glancing at Ash though, the wolf howled out now. Shaking the entire area as Ash was preparing his first attack spell- but was waiting for Heart to do the first blow. His spell that caused a temporary ‘bleeding’ damage over a minute worked better when Heart first caused actual damage. Ash looked at him, as if confused as to why he was hesitating so long. Well it had only been a couple of seconds but all Heart could think about in those seconds was losing Ash. He.. was just another life in this world after all. “Heart!” Ash snapped at him, jerking him out of it as Heart dodged now claws that had slashed forward at him. Though there was a pause. Enough of a pause for Heart to jerk forward now.

Screaming in anger and strength as he wielded his sword tightly. Attacking across the wolf’s chest, making it growl as he could see 20 damage- on a health bar that was going to take time wearing down. Fuck. “Move!” Ash said, Heart dodging just in time to have the spell fly over his head, hitting the wolf directly, and stunning him for a second in his next attack enough for Heart to get some distance between them again. “Distract him, I’m going to cast fire now.” he said, beginning to build the spell around him. 

“Got it!” Heart hissed, moving forward now as he attacked the ground, which sent him high into the air, and tearing the wolf’s attention from Ash to him, as he landed on his head. Attacking once, then twice before he was jerked off of him harshly as the wolf leaped into the air now too. Spinning into a ball as the colorful feathers were suddenly shot out like daggers- directly towards Ash. Heart took damage for falling off the wolf- but he could hear Ash’s health take a hit too - at the same time he spot his fire spell at the boss. Both hitting each other really, but Ash quickly took out a couple of apples, biting into them and dropping them as his damaged health regained some until he was at ninety-eight again. He had brought an assload of apples for stuff like this though.   
“Underbelly-” Ash said, but the wolf was moving now. Still there seemed to be a pause in his actual attacks but the creature knew better than exposing his weak points. That’s when Heart learned something horrifying. The Boss could learn from their attacks.

“Ash!” Heart shouted as he dodged a bite attack, running along its side but not taking the chance to attack. “Focus! No call outs! Watch it’s pattern and keep further back!” He shouted at him as the boss turned to try and catch him, but Heart slammed his foot down and lunged back - his sword slashing through the tender flesh of its nose to cut it wide and take a good chunk of damage from it now. The underbelly was not the only weak point for this creature - it had plenty of other spots that could cut when cut. 

But he knew, in the back of his mind, if he died right now that they were not going back home - they were starting again right at the front. And he also knew something else, something that fueled his swords and drove him to keep it focused on him, if that was the case - if they restarted here at the beginning of this attack, Ash would not know any better. Hell - he didn’t even know if he would. The boss raised itself up on its hind legs to perform a slash attack and Heart darted forward, getting a massive cut that took him down under half health but he had gotten under the beast. “Heart-” He heard Ash cry out.

“Focus!” He shouted as he struck a low blow by cutting along the beasts underbelly - and even worse, its maleness. That seemed to make it lose control and Heart barely had time to get out from under it as the beast jumped up again but now Heart had seen that there was a range to its attacks and he rushed to Ash to yank him back as the feathers rained down onto the ground where he had just been. “Feather attack - close range, stay back and move forward after.” He said to himself as he popped open a small health and drank it, barely getting him back up above half. He had to take it, he had to keep standing because if he fell Ash stood no chance.

He gave a signal with his hand telling Ash to fall back and ready a healing spell for him as he rushed around the side of the boss who turned to him as he had fully enraged this thing now. It wanted him dead for daring to attack him on his cock, but Heart saw that he had lowered its speed now as a result. There was blood running down from its nose, from under its stomach, chest - but there was just one more spot Heart needed to strike in order to turn the tide fully for them. He snarled at the wolf and the other snarled back at him. He changed his sword, going to blue and buffing his defence now - his steps more careful as he waited. 

The attack came sooner than he thought, dodging the bite attack and moving around it like an annoying little grasshopper it just couldn’t catch. The boss raised itself up onto its hind legs in the same moment Ash’s healing spell got off, buffing him back up - perfect timing as Heart took the blunt of its slash attack as he rushed forward. He spotted the boss’ eyes widening, thinking he was going back under it and rushed to try and get its front paws on the ground again but this was what Heart had been waiting for - jumping up to sink his blue sword into the underside of its right paw nearly to the hilt. He let it go, leaving it there as the boss had no choice but to now either fight with a sword in its paw or attempt to get it out. His red jeweled sword returned as he didn’t let up and the boss stepped forward to attack, but then lost control of itself when it forgot the sword and only shoved it up inside deeper allowing Heart’s attack to land fully on its right eye - “Ash!” He shouted out loudly as the wolf jerked to the left trying to flee the pain - but with its one good eye spotted the mage just as he fired off his fireball attack into its other eye. The boss shook his head, screaming and howling - blinded, bleeding, crippled - and for a moment it felt something land on the spot just slightly above his nose and struggled to open one of its eye in time to see Heart - flying above him - and his sword rushing down to sink into the top of its skull -

It jerked and twitched - but the damage was critical and its bar disappeared. It let out a long slow breath, falling to its side slowly as Heart tumbled away from it. He let out a primal gut wrenching roar as the boss disappeared fully now - marking that they had won.

And then fell over on his back.. It took a lot to keep himself from passing out and he felt rather sick, but then Ash appeared by his side and he smiled, though his teeth were bloody and he was pretty banged up. Another health drink fixed that up for him and he ate a couple apples that Ash fed him before he was able to get up. Suddenly they both felt a flood of warmth as their levels went up - once, twice. From level fifteen to level seventeen. “Level thirteen - this damn thing appeared when we were thirteen!” Heart hissed as they moved forward now - though then Ash’s eyes popped out of his head. Gold - there was gold on the ground. Heart watched him eagerly gathering it all up but something else caught it eye and he moved over to it, finding when seemed like a bracelet and a house plate on the ground. What was this supposed to be? But when he picked it up he suddenly knew - a fast travel plate and bracelet. All he had to do was keep the bracelet on and have the plate somewhere, and then holding his party members hands he could then travel to wherever the plate was. He figured something like this had to be worth a shit ton so he wisely pocketed it. Going inside the boss’ cave they also found three other chests, giving them silver and a piece of armor. Neither of them knew what kind of armor it was so they took it with them. They also found animal hides and bones. 

All in all, maybe it was worth it and maybe it wasn’t - though for Ash the gold was sure as shit worth it. “You know,” Heart said as they watched a piece of the cove crumble away to show a path out now. “I think I figured out why apples don’t have seeds in this dream.. It’s so you can suck them down in the middle of battle..” He looked at Ash in amusement now. “And we also learned, the fucking boss’ quests are a trap. We’d have come here at thirteen and faced something seven levels above us. That’s bullshit.”

Ash smiled as he moved and gave him his last two poor health potions, rounding off his health off completely now. “...We would have been massacred.” he hummed with a frown. “I think that the next boss quest we make sure we’re at least five levels than when it appears. Maybe six or seven if we want it to be easier than today..” he said thoughtfully before grinning. “But we did it.. We’re amazing.” the male grinned happily. “I beat we could go to the next town now.. Though, I’m almost sad to leave.” he said as they hit forest, walking back out through it all. There were some howlers that popped up, but held back from attacking them. Even as some other monsters popped up, they didn’t attack. Heart didn’t feel like they were scared, but rather.. respect for the moment? He was sure when they walked back through the forest, they would attack normally, even if they were far above them now.

“...This is so weird.” Ash smiled softly as it seemed like they were almost walking through a path of monsters that were congratulating them in their own way. “I wonder why they’re doing that..” he hummed softly but shook his head as they broke through now out the forest. The sunlight hitting them as he said “Wow.. what should we do? Turn in the quest already or go home and rest? Or maybe just head out to the new town already.” he said excitedly at the idea. Though they both knew that in a new place they would have to stay in inns now. Their stamina was gone though, and exhaustion was still haunting until they took something to refill it, and maybe a nap at least before heading out. 

“Stay or go…” Heart hummed as he looked up at the sun and smirked at Ash. “...Let’s toss for it.” he said as he pulled out a single gold coin. 

“Eh? Why?” that was a strange way to make decisions after all. It was like letting fate take the wheel in their choices. In a way, Ash could felt it was almost librating in a way. “Sure.” he grinned. Heart smirked softly. Flipping the gold coin now, the sun shining on it too before he caught and flipped it over the back of his hand. Tails, which meant staying for a bit. Perhaps restock before heading out. “What’s that mean?” he blinked as Heart nudged him playfully. 

“Means nap time at home.” he said as Ash blinked before nodding. More than happy to sleep in his own bed before heading out. 

Returning home Ash smiled and said “I think that I figured out a new recipe for potions. I was thinking about the thing you said about apples, and I think that’s the needed ingredient that I’ve been looking for to upgrade my potions.” Sure he had asked his mothers for her recipes… but the woman had been dead set on him learning on how to make his own potions. Maybe it was like a rite of passage or something for mages, but still, Heart knew the times his new ingredient inventions sometimes caused the potion shop explode. Needing a cooldown of a few hours before they could even enter it again. 

“Is it.. Is it weird how relaxed we are after what we had just done?” He asked with a smirk, looking at Ash. “We just killed a boss, leveled up a couple times and now we’re acting like we’re still planning to still go confront it.” Heart laughed now as he looked forward again. Only the state of his clothes really told how hard of a battle it had been. During the battle it had been insane, the sight of an ‘auto save’ had knocked his focus for a moment - that could have killed them. He needed to learn to focus better, to not let his mind wonder in the middle of battle. No doubt when they leave the town the monsters were going to become stronger. “Leaf, we’re home.” He called as he opened the front door to the house, smiling at the fairy who darted around. He was becoming use to roaming outside his lamp now, if only just a little. 

Leaf smiled and said, “Hello Master! How are you?” the little fairy moved now to sit on his shoulder. Circling Heart happily, before slipping into his hair now. It was fluffy and Leaf seemed really fond of hiding in it. “You’re almost naked again Master.” he giggled as he popped out from a couple of strands of hair at the top of his head. He was weightless but sometimes tickled in there.

“We killed the boss. It was fun, when it was over and we weren’t on the verge of dying anymore.” He said as he walked over to the mantle and pulled out the plate he had found from the site, placing it on display there. “And we got a fast forward travel point. So many sure you don’t break this Leaf, otherwise we’ll have to travel back home the long way around.”  
“Ooh.. okay Master.” the male giggled looking at it curiously as he flew out his hair. Leaf moved over to Ash now as the male pulled out some clothes from the home chest. “You should shower and change first Heart, I’ll get started on some howler meat.” he smiled softly. 

“No, it’s fine.. You bathe first.” He told him as he waved his hand a little. “I’m going to check on what town or place we’ve unlocked next. I’ll use the water afterward.” He told him as he turned to head into the library, removing his shirt now to toss it onto the desk nearby. Heart didn’t think it could be saved though. Opening the door he headed inside and moved around to sit behind the desk, taking a deep breath as he leaned back on the cool chair. When he leaned forward however to look at the map he bulked. “Wh.. what the hell?!”

It took a second but the door opened with Leaf. “What’s wrong Master?” the fairy squeaked. Flying over now to his shoulder to nuzzle up against him, as if he had a negative status effect.

Heart looked bewildered down at the map. Other than what they had explored today in the deep forest nothing else had happened. There was no new town or no new clear path on where they should be going. Had he been wrong then? Perhaps this place wouldn’t stop him from leaving after all, or maybe he could simply leave but would only update the map in doing so. “Tsk.” He said as he leaned back down, looking a little ticked. He would have to go to the edge of town to find out if he could leave or not, and if he couldn’t then they were missing something. Well, at least Leaf snuggling up to him was making him calmer. “I should do something for you Leaf..” He said as he leaned forward now, opening up the build menu for the house.

“What do you mean Master?” the fairy cooed happily. “I’m happy here with you and Master Ash~” he giggled. Moving to hide in his hair again.

“Yeah but we’re going to be traveling a lot, we might not come home very often. Or maybe we will. But we won’t know until we set out.” He said as he moved slowly through all the labels until he found custom build. “And this town doesn’t sell fairy lamps so I can’t leave you with a friend until I do. So I want to leave you with something that you can enjoy in the meanwhile since you can’t go outside.”

“Oh? What Master?” he asked eagerly, popping out once more to paw at one of his curls. 

Heart thought for a few minutes, toying around with a couple of things. After several minutes, long enough for Ash to finish with his bath and start on dinner - peering into the library to see Leaf holding onto two strands of Heart’s hair to keep himself from fluttering upwards into the ceiling, he had finished the design for two things. “There.” He confirmed, the money disappeared and Ash turned his head to see the window by Leaf’s lamp was suddenly closed up tightly with a timer of thirty minutes on it. Heart got up now and stepped out the library. “So.. The new area hasn’t unlocked.” He told Ash, rubbing the back of his neck a bit with a frown and still shirtless.

“Eh? How? I mean.. Did it say why?” he asked, but was resisting blushing as he looked away. “And.. what did you add to the window?”  
“No.. Tomorrow I’m going to go to the edge of town and see if it’ll let us pass or not. If it doesn’t then we might have overlooked something back at the boss’ cave or something here in town.” Heart said before looking toward the window. “Oh, well I wanted to leave Leaf with something in case we’re able to leave and start traveling. It’s a little safety spot with some plants and stuff, so he can be outside with a protective cage around him. Enjoy the breeze and the sun.”

“Oh that’s thoughtful.” he smiled softly. Though cleared his voice now and said “Well um, I think you could go shower now. Change clothes and stuff..” he swallowed the last word least his voice squeaked. 

Heart swatted away Leaf as he headed into the bathroom now, Leaf darting over to the window but the curtains wouldn’t open for him. So he just had to sit there and wait, like a little green bug. After several minutes Heart came out from the bathroom, fully clean and now dressed in an evening robe made of thinned Howler hide. He could say this after a full month of training, the town had lots of seeds, wood and hides now. When he sat down at the table he pulled his own cookbook toward him, having been steadily adding and improving recipes from a couple of other cookbooks they had brought and from his own dreams - memories. Ash was eager to try them out but his favorite appeared to be the first dish he had ever made for him. “What do you think it could be though?” He asked softly. “Could it just be.. That the map won’t tell us what’s out there?”

“...I don’t know, I think that we need to find something then to progress.” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe an item, or a quest out..” he hummed softly. All their quests had been in the same town, or rather related to the same town. Ash moved now to use his favorite recipe from Heart. The first dish he had ever made for him. It seemed fitting as their last meal in their hometown. “We’ll figure it out, but tonight we relax.. And enjoy the evening.” he smiled. Some of that pre-boss adrenaline had worn off after all, and the sun was beginning to set. 

“Maybe.. Maybe I just over thought it.” He said softly as he watched Ash work the dough. “You know, someone else we haven’t encountered was that high level woman again, even when we traveled at night. We never saw her in town or in the forest again, surely she must have left by now.”

“Well.. I mean, as a pet, she’s different than a normal party member you know.” he hummed as his fingers worked on their meal. Making a bit more than normal so they could have servings for travel. “A team is three people, and a team can only have two pets at a time so.. I’m not sure where her team was.” he explained. Maybe she had just been by herself. “Though she could have just been sent out on a mission by herself-” he added, echoing his thoughts. “It isn’t that uncommon, but still, it was strange.” he muttered. He didn’t see a reason to return to old towns after all, perhaps for materials or something but even then. 

Five party members in all. Heart hummed softly as he leaned on his arm. “You’ve worked the dough enough. Now form the oval shape and add the fillings.” He told him off handedly. “Is there any place out to get quests? Sometimes people don’t put them on the guild. How many people have we talked too by now.. Feels like we know just about everyone by this point.”

“Ah, right.” he said, having been lost in his own thoughts before he moved to do just that. Making multiple ones, the max their stove could cook really at a time as he looked thoughtful. “Maybe? I mean, I’ve heard that Spice has its’ own quest board, but those quests are.. Not pleasant.” he wrinkled his nose at the thought. 

“Spice? The whorehouse?” Heart looked a little dismayed now. “But.. Why.. What could they possibly need?”

“...I don’t know. I’ve never been in one.” he muttered softly. “I mean.. Any business needs stuff I suppose.” They had done quests for the taverns, the shops and everything. Though they both felt like this would be much different.

Heart looked even more dismayed now. “I.. I guess..” Though he hoped that whatever it was meant keeping his pants on. Most people would jump at the chance to go into one, but Heart felt a deep embarrassment at the very idea of doing so. Did it make him less of a man? He felt pretty sure he had kissed both a man and woman before, but maybe it had more to do with the idea of he didn’t want to see himself what was going on with the whores. But then they were people too. “Alright.. We’ll test the edge and if it doesn’t work we’ll go to Spice.”

Ash hummed softly but nodded. Taking the servings now and sliding them into the stove’s oven once it was all prepared and seasoned. Closing it now as a timer appeared on the stove once he closed it, forty-five minutes until it was done. He moved now to sit at the table with him as he said “..Hey, it’ll be okay, I’m sure it won’t be as bad as a boss.” he smiled a little. Then why did Heart want to go fight a boss again instead?

xXx

They couldn’t leave still. The wall that neither of them could see wouldn’t budge. They checked the guild and there was nothing open right now. And they did confirm it with the clerk that Spice had its own quest set and the boss of the place was waiting for them already. “What am I suppose to tell your mother if someone see’s us going in?” Heart muttered softly as they stood across from the building. The safest bet would be to go around the back, but they didn’t think the door would be unlocked for them. Even in the day time the place didn’t look any less.. Lush. “She’ll kill me, bring me back and kill me again..”

Ash was blushing a little, holding onto his staff like it might protect his virginity as he said nervously “Maybe you can go in by yourself?” he asked. Ah yes, throwing his own best friend to the wolves with pretty claws.

“I will rape you myself.” Heart hissed as he clutched onto his arm tightly. “Let’s do it.” And half dragging Ash they moved toward the front door, pushing it open slowly and stepping inside - only to have it closed shut behind them in the same moment their stats changed. 

Cunning: 0  
Blow jobs:0  
Vanilla:0  
Bondage:0  
Kinks:0  
Kissing:0  
Traits: Virgin

Ash started in horror at his new stats while Heart was more interested in his. He wasn’t listed as a virgin and his kissing skill was already ten, he also had a couple points in blowjobs. Did that mean he had a boyfriend before? Though he worried more about the two points in kinks and vanilla. Heart turned sharply to grab onto Ash when the other attempted to throw himself back out the door, turning him around sharply and still clutching Ash. “J.. Just find the damn quests, grab one and bail..”

“W-what are you talking about? I’ve been stained just coming in here-” he whimpered, close to trying to blast his way out of the place with a fireball as a woman appeared at the next moment. Her breasts were bouncy as they were supple in the red dress she wore. The front slit of it showing she wasn’t even wearing a bra underneath, and the high slit along her thigh both covered her front and back end (barely) but showed she probably wasn’t wearing any underwear either. Though both their eyes landed on her stats as she came up to the counter of scantly clothed women.

Cunning: 139  
Blow jobs: 578  
Vanilla:212  
Bondage:513  
Kinks:???  
Kissing:1,573  
Traits: Succubus  
Virginity Taken: 919.

Heart could see the look in her eyes said she wanted to round that number off- but nevertheless smiled at the pair and said “Welcome to Spice boys~ How can Mistress Cecil help you today?” she cooed as Ash squeaked a little. He could feel his companion building up a spell now to bust out.

Heart turned quickly to fight with Ash to get his staff away from him, finally ripping it out of his arms and putting it away so he couldn’t fire wildly like a drowning cat in a puddle of water. “We..” Heart cleared his throat a little. “We’re here to see about.. Your quests. Even after killing the boss of the forest we can’t seem to leave yet so.. This is the only place we haven’t touched.”

“Haven’t touched huh? Fufufufu..” the woman chuckled as Ash was more of less hiding behind Heart now. “Come this way.” she smiled, moving them away from the front counter now, and to the room in the side. Here there was a quest board similar to the one at the guild, but had.. Hearts coming out of it, with bras and panties decorating it’s edges. “It’s simple boys, just pick a quest and come see me or one of the girls at the counter, we’ll give you the quest to complete and you’ll be on your merry way. Just come back when you complete the quest to get your reward~” she cooed. 

Heart nodded and moved to the board now, looking them over. Was there something that would tell them what they needed? “Wait, what does this mean? You can either get payment in coin or flesh?” He asked, looking at her now.

“Fufufu-” she moved now to gently lift his face up at her. “It means that certain quests let you have a reward in Spice. There’s a spice in each town you see, and different Spice have different.. Rewards.” he felt like his stats were about to be increased- before she let him go. Depending on the level of quest you complete, depends on the type of rewards you can get from spice. Sex, blowjobs, threesomes, twins~” she cooed the last bit out. “Let’s just say we would make it all worth it darling.” 

“...Is there a quest to get us out of town?” He said, because Ash looked ready to knell over at any moment. And he got the feeling if he did that then he would somehow be dragged across the floor like an unseen demon had a hold of him and disappear into a bedroom - not to be seen for hours. And with a huge boost in his stats. 

“Well, I don’t know about that darling.” she said thoughtfully, looking at the board. “How about you give some of my quests a look, and come to the counter if you find one you like?” she chuckled, moving away now to return to the front. Ash let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding as he pushed Heart to the board. “Just pick one and let’s go before I really get raped.” he whined. Coming closer to the board now, he could read over some of the quests now. 

One that was requesting a strangely large amount of leather, another that was requesting a ‘special’ item from the blacksmith, for the adventurer to request and deliver themselves, and a couple of others that seemed strange in nature, but nothing too inherently bad. It was as he was going to pick just a random quest from the board that he spotted something in the corner. It seemed to stand out amongst the others as he turned to look at it now. “Monster egg wanted.” Ash blinked as he peered over his shoulder, they hadn’t had a quest like that before after all. It read that there was a special item that needed retrieval, and the location was the same as where they had slayed the boss the day before. Other than that, it said ‘See Leonal for special details’. “Leonal…? Who’s Leonal?” he asked as Heart took the quest off the board now. In his mind appeared to be a guide towards said character- who was on the second floor.

“Second floor.” He said softly as they slipped out of the side room and went around the counter, heading up the second floor now in order to find Leonal who was looking through a book and posing three naked women and a twink in certain ways, Heart having to grab Ash to hold him tightly least the mouse make the fetal mistake of running in the cat den. “Leonal?” He asked as the man turned to them now, looking much like the woman downstairs. Surprising he had the same stats as her too, though his trait was incubus. He looked at them questioningly for a moment before spotting the request they had in their hands, perking up sharply.

“Ladies, boy, out.” He said, closing the book and clapping his hands to send them pouting from the room now as he moved to the door and closed it - locking it. Leonal turned to them now, waving his hand to the couch. “Sit, sit.” He said eagerly as he sat down across from them. “Have you come to accept?”

Ash didn’t move to sit until Heart had done so himself. The couch red and plush to the touch, and sitting on it was comforting- even if he wished he had his staff with him. “Y-yes.” Ash nodded as Heart hummed. 

“What’s the special details about?” Heart raised an eyebrow to look at the man that seemed to be beaming. Or about to bounce around off his chair. 

“Well see, something like this can only appear once the monster boss of the forest is dead. There’s a very, very, very limited time for this quest to appear you see. I was on the verge of even hunting you two down myself to get you to accept this request.” He said with a smile, eyes bright and shining. “There is a legend that states that when the boss of an area is killed - monster eggs will appear in that area. They’ve also be noted in other spots too, like dead ends that seem out of place and out of the way. Now see there are plenty of common eggs out there that just turn out to be normal monsters. Howlers you see, but raised by humans they have a different coat color than their wild counterparts. But see - there are very, very rare monster eggs that also appear. Those that turn into humans, pets you see. The egg I want is one such egg, however it only appears when the ground is still stained in blood under the light of the full moon in the harvest month. The settings have to be just perfec-” He stopped and looked at the door, suddenly narrowing his eyes. He stood up and suddenly hit the door roughly. “Bug off!” He shouted and they heard rapid steps hurrying off. “Sorry about that, she’s gets so nosy this time of year.”

Ash blinked at the sudden door attack and figured it had been the blond haired woman they had met downstairs. “..A-ah.. is this, perhaps for her?” he asked now curiously as Heart seemed to be taking in the information for later.

Leonal nodded his head softly as he resumed sitting. “It is our birthday coming the beginning of winter. The way I see it, if it is there, I should have enough time to get it to hatch before that day. Mind you, it won’t take its human form until it reaches a certain level.” He smiled a little. “My sister, she loves birds you see. All kinds of birds and that is what this egg is - or well should be. A bird type. Without mountains around these parts that makes it super rare but this bird is said to be a white swan type. Not a monster at all even though it is coming from the egg. I don’t even mind the sex, swans are my sisters one true bird love. And she’s a show off too, she’d love to flaunt it. That’s why I want you two to get it. The full moon while the blood is still fresh is the only chance to get it.” He leaned forward now. “It should look like a normal shell walking around, but with white wings on its side. But the thing is - I have no idea what food it likes! The book I read has no idea because it is so rare.” He looked upset now. “The only way to safely capture a monster egg is when it is asleep, after it has eaten its fill. Otherwise you risk breaking trust just rushing out to get it, then it’ll hatch to be just a normal monster. There are still four days before the full moon and I’ll help cover the cost, but it is important you stock up with fruits, vegetables, seeds and maybe even meat for all we know.”

“Well.. it’s very kind that you want to get her something so special.” Ash smiled softly.

Heart seemed thoughtful on the other hand before finally saying, “We’ll have to make different dishes, research new recipes, or make new recipes. Are you sure you’re willing to pay for the supplies? It might become costly.” he pointed out. Really what he was thinking about was buying the whole food market out, and going home to recreate some of his ‘dream’ dishes. Along with dishes that other monsters had been documented liking. Him and Ash had finally bought that book before coming here, and who would have known it was so important? Ah well. 

He nodded his head firmly. “This is my sister after all. I’ve saved up a lot of money for this moment but I was worried the two of you would kill the boss after harvest. But yes, I’ll cover the cost - no matter the price.”

Heart hummed softly and looked at Ash. Who nodded in return. He turned back to Leonel and nodded. “We’ll take your quest.” he smiled, giving the quest paper back to Leonel for him to eagerly sign into their hands. 

“We should go to the market, and buy things for tonight. Oh and have Mister Leonel give us some coin for that.” he nodded. “We’ll return whatever we don’t use of course.” Ash reassured the beaming twin. 

Leonel signed and returned the quest to him, smiling happily now. “And not a word to my sister.” He told him as he stood up, moving to the bookcase nearby and opening a small chest there. He walked over and handed them three hundred gold, patting Ash’s cheek when his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Four days until the full harvest moon. I’ll teach one of you how to capture a monster egg in the meanwhile. There’s a certain trick to it you see.”

xXx

Their inventory was full of food. From just untouched beast meat, fruit and vegetables to fully cooked meals fresh from the oven. They were hiding nearby, looking down into the cove where even in the darkness they could see the stains of blood still from theri battle several days ago. It hadn’t rained yet after all and since bodies weren’t left behind to decay there was nothing like that. Ash was asleep beside him, the two of them taking turns, and between the two of them was Leaf’s fairy lamp giving them some protection. Heart rubbed his eyes a little, really fighting to keep awake right now and thinking about waking Ash so they could switch places when something happened. A sound..

Chirping..?

Heart raised his head up as he looked around, confused for a moment before his eyes locked in on something moving down below. It was hard to makeout from up here but he could see a small white thing moving around on the ground, where had it even come from? He turned and lightly shook Ash, waking him up. “Ash, look -” He said softly, pointing down below at the moving thing.

Ash jerked awake now, sleep in his eyes quickly clearing up as he said “Is it here?” And sat up now to look over. Seeing the little egg that had appeared. It was chirping softly, snow white wings flapping gently, almost playfully as it was just wondering around the cove without a care. Ash bit his lip and looked over at Heart. “What should we give it first? A stew maybe? Howlers like that.” he reminded him, but they both had read that monster book religiously over the past four days. Along with many trial and errors of food in their poor kitchen. 

“We’ll scatter things around it. Keep quiet, keep low.” He told him as they stood up, picking up Leaf’s lamp and the pair slipping down into the cove. They didn’t go near the moving little egg, nor did they make a lot of sounds. They placed Leaf’s lamp down and them placed five food items around it. Seeds, meat, then three cooked meals - stew, Heart’s little pizza boat, and his honey soaked donuts. Then they hurried away as the egg had been watching them, chirping softly as now it wandered over to find out what they had been doing. The light of Leaf’s lamp must have relaxed it as it sniffed around the seeds then ate it - dots above its head, neither like or dislike. Which might as well have been a dislike honestly. Then it moved around to the carrot on the ground - an image of a black X appeared and it walked away from it unhappily. Next was Heart’s yeastless donuts, which it looked over confused before trying. A heart appeared over its head now as it made sounds of happiness, beginning to dig in. “You’re up.” He told Ash softly, since he had the softest step.

Ash nodded, moving forward now softly and slowly to make a small trail behind it back into the cove, then just dumping his whole inventory of the donuts there before making his way back into the bushes with Heart. “There.” he whispered back as they watched the little egg sprout little hearts of happiness once he was finished with the donut. Chirping around, and wandering around aimlessly before spotting the other donut near him- little by little following the trail back into the cove where they could watch it slowly eat it’s fill. 

After the third honey soaked donut the hearts turned into a line - which slowly formed into little ‘z’ of sleep. Heart moved forward now, hurrying forward. “Got ya.” He said softly as he picked the egg up from behind, startling it awake. He turned it around to look at it closely now. It looked.. Like a normal half hatched egg honestly, with wings and feet - and a mouth showing faintly in the crack of the egg. It was.. Really cute even before hatching. He tucked the egg into his shirt as Ash gathered up their food and Leaf’s lamp. “I bet it’ll be really cute. A shame we can’t keep it.” He said as they started off together now. 

Ash smiled as he held Leaf close and said “...I’m sure Leonel would kill us if we tried to.. Or worse, make an enemy of him.” he hummed thoughtfully as they made their way back. “Maybe we’ll be able to find one like this for ourselves one day.” Though neither really understood how rare the little chirping egg was. “How are we supposed to hide it? Won’t Cecil be at the front entrance?” he asked as Heart saw the back door opening as they approached Spice from the side. “Oh well.. That answers that.” he hummed as they slipped around back now to the door. Leonel was standing there, and it seemed to be a storage room of sorts for the Spice building. 

At the sight of the little bird like egg his face bursted into a wide smile. “This is it! This is just like the egg I saw in that book.” He told them as he took it now, happily snuggling it close as he stroked its shell. “I already have just the place to hide it too, a nice warm cabinet with hay in my private room. Sister is going to flip out when I show her.” Leonel smiled at the pair of them. “Thank you both so much. Whatever you need, Spice will be there to help you out. The pair spotted that under their stats something new had formed, ‘Alley of Spice’. Guess it must have been a pretty big deal then. “You know, I’ll tell you now. Certain quests can change a town, tipping the balance of power one way or another. If you ever find yourself in something like that - go to Spice. The masters there always know the best way to go about it. And another thing - sometimes I hear of ‘fake Spices’ out there. If you’re ever in a Spice and something seems off to you, look around a bit at the state of the workers there. No Spice forces its workers.”

“If we come across something like that we’ll burn the place down.” Heart said right away. “People shouldn’t be forced into that kind of living. I don’t care if it hurts my status of hero, I won’t stand by and watch.”

Leonel smiled at him. “If you do and you take them down, we’ll know about it. Head to a Spice and I’m sure the master or mistress there will gladly reward you for it. A lot of things trade hands with us, or else.. Fall out I should say. If you two want you can do a few more quests around here to gather money for the road. I have one more gift for you two but it’ll take me a couple of days to get it. Come by then yeah? Oh and, keep whatever money you had left over.”

Ash perked up at that. They still had a good hundred and half left, at least they wouldn’t have to worry about food for a while. “Thanks. We’ll come by in the morning to take care of smaller quests. Might as well handle them for the coin.” Heart said with a smile.

Leonel smiled now coyly and said, “Spice rewards are worth their own weigh in gold you know. Perhaps you should explore them at some point too.” 

Heart looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling. “Sure. But what should we do if we find a monster egg out on the road?” He asked him now as Leonel grinned.

Turning he reached into his pocket to pull out something, a flute? “When you capture a monster egg use this to summon the mail bird. He’ll swoop in and take the egg back to your own monster barn. Be aware that there is a number to how many you can have at the moment and come back often in order to check on them. There are three types of monster eggs. Common, uncommon and rare. Commons are.. Well, common. Uncommon normally have some sport of mark on the outside to show they’ll have an odd coat coloring. They sell a lot more than common eggs. Rare eggs look the same as common, but when they reach a certain level they turn human. They’re worth a lot and the more time you spend with them the stronger the bond they form with you, so if you’re going to sell them it’s fine to keep back from them.”

Leonel seemed to be finished but quickly added. “Be careful though, there can only be five pets in a barn at a time, and if you send a new egg to the barn while it’s full, you will lose one pet. Considering they will think you don’t want them anymore and go back to the wild. What I would advise is hiring a farm hand. Not only will they be able to make sure your pets are loved and cared for while you’re out adventuring, but they can learn breeds, and alert you once the barn is full if you keep them around long enough.”  
“Will do, I’ll check it out when we reach the house.” They parted ways as Ash and Heart started heading home, Leaf already asleep in his lamp and the pair looked ready to knock out themselves. When they reached the house Heart went to check on the map and saw to his surprise that a new line had been added, meaning the path was beginning to open. Well, that was a good step. Yawning he went upstairs to join Ash, the other didn’t even bother sleeping in his room anymore. It had been a waste of coin in the end, at least right now. “Ash,” He said tiredly as he laid on top of the blankets, still dressed. “I think.. I want to find some rare pets someday too.. It sounds like a family doesn’t it?” 

Ash yawned and said “..It does. It would be nice to raise a little egg up, and then being able to talk to them.” He rolled over now on his side to look at him, so they could talk better for the moment. “..Do you think we’ll come across the white haired woman pet in the next town? Maybe she’s in a bad spice..” he hummed softly now, frowning in worry. 

“Weren’t you afraid of her a month ago?” Heart asked softly with a small smile, looking as though he might fall asleep at any moment. “Maybe.. We’ll have to see when we reach the next place.. Two months, has it only been two months? So much time seems to have slipped by without me seeing. Training, slaying, doing quests.. All boiling down to the boss fight - a single hour or longer..” He opened his eyes a little, staring up at the ceiling. “Do you want to hear something weird.. And frightening?”

“Well we’re stronger than her now..” he pouted as he listened to him talk. Nodding a little as it seemed like.. Less time had passed. It seemed just yesterday he had seen the doe eyed male looking lost at the guild entrance. “Sure, what is it?” he smiled faintly, knowing it must have something to do with his dreams or something.

“When we dropped down into the cove, just before the boss appeared.. There was a moment I paused.. And you had to call me out of it.” He said softly. “It wasn’t fear that stalled me Ash, at least not the fear of the boss or the battle ahead.. There was something else.”

“Something else?” Ash blinked. There had only been one boss after all. “What was wrong?” he asked softly.

“Have you ever walked into a room, or to a place - somewhere you hadn’t been before or maybe you had, and you get this feeling that.. Something about it seems familiar? Like you’ve done something before and for a moment it confuses you.”

“Isn’t that just called Deja vu?” Ash asked now. “I mean.. People get that all the time, maybe it was just the shock of the battle or something.” he hummed softly. Reaching out now to hold one of his hands. “It’s okay..”

“It wasn’t just that though.. When we dropped down, for a moment words appeared that you didn’t see - or maybe you couldn’t see.” Heart said softly, squeezing his hand gently. “Those words is what made me pause and caused me to fear. When we dropped down there to face the boss, had we.. Had I died, we would have been forced to stay there. Doing that battle over and over and over again.. What made me freeze was the idea that you could have died there.”

Ash hummed softly and said “Well.. we both could have died Heart. I mean.. Even with a save, I don’t think even winning the battle would save someone that died in battle. I’m sure the world wouldn’t like it or something..” But he shook his head now and said softly with a smile “..But I wouldn’t mind dying to save you Heart. You’re my best friend. “

“That’s what I feared.. When that idea crossed my mind - the only thing I knew for really certain was.. If you had died, I’d have thrown the battle. As many times as it took, in order to save you.” Heart turned his head a little to look at him. “I don’t want to lose you Ash, not for any reason. And that save only bitterly reminded me that it doesn’t have to be a battle that you can die in. What I feared most of all.. Was you dying at some point.. And then something happening to me, the two of us restarting before that battle once again - and you being none the wiser. I wish more than anything that save hadn’t appeared, because.. I know that I would want to use it for my own gain if you died. Even if it meant coming all the way back to that day, living in the madness of reliving all we had done, if only to try and keep you alive. That.. is what made me freeze at the beginning of the battle.”

Ash felt that fear a little, in his chest at his words. A sadness too but also touched at the idea. He knew he would do the same for Heart, if he was ever in the position. Though he felt a strange warmth. Wondering what was the fluttering in his chest now. Was it deeper admiration for their friendship? “Heart, what am I to you?” he asked now softly. Heart felt now that he could deepen his bond with Ash, depending on what he said next.

Heart looked down for a moment, thinking. “I think.. I would be very alone without you Ash. And I think.. And I know that at times you make it very easy for me to forget my dream of another world. When we go into battle I know you are behind me, watching my back and doing your hardest in which to protect me - the same as I am trying to protect you. It isn’t just the thrill of battle that spurs me onward. You are my partner and my friend, and sometimes I think of you as my family.. And I like the sound of you sleeping beside me in my bed or the way your eyes light up when I made you something to eat. The way your ears wiggle when you’re deeply happy about something and how you work so hard in all that you do, cooking and making potions. And how you look away when I take my shirt off, blushing.. And I feel a little smug having made you feel that way.. Or when you think I can’t see you watching me train. You’re a lot of things to me Ash and I think you can be a lot more too.. If you wanted..”

Ash blushed at his words now cutely, the moonlight that pooled into the room from their window only making the elf look more adorable. “I.. I..” he squeaked nervously before he smiled shyly, squeezing his hand a little more firmly. “I’d like that Heart.” he said softly, wiggling a little closer now to hide his blushing face against his arm. 

Heart smiled softly at him as he watched his ears wiggling softly in the moonlight. “Alright.. We’ll go for it. And even if it doesn’t work, we’ll still have the memories and our friendship.” He turned over onto his side, throwing an arm around Ash to hold him close now.   
Ash smiled softly and nodded. Cling to his shirt as he said “Of course Heart, you’ll always be my bestest friend… and maybe.. Something more one day.” he hummed softly, nuzzling his chest a little. Heart could see little hearts from Ash, along with something he had been expecting, ‘+2 Friendship, +2 Romance’.

That damn little bar.. It felt like cheating. Heart looked down at Ash and smiled at him. “But you know.. Just because we’re stronger now doesn’t mean that girl has been sitting idly around somewhere without leveling up.” He teased a bit, grinning. Heart closed his eyes and hummed as he rubbed Ash’s back gently. “Yeah, we got a long way to go.”

End.

Ending Chapter stats.  
Heart:   
Level 17: 33 physical atk, 24 def, Physical spd: 23 and health: 142  
Blue sword bonus:+2 atk and 4 def.  
Red sword bonus: +4 atk and 2 def  
Inventory: Swords, Ash’s homemade stew (one serving), One red health potions (Can be bought for 5 silver, sold for two sliver). Health potion can regenerate (20-30 points of health instantly). Coin: 149 gold, 16 Silver. 0 Poor health potion (Heals 10 health instantly, first potion recipe made from Ash). Fast Travel Bracelet. Monster Flute.  
On Person: One hidden dagger.

Ash:  
Level 17: 29 spell atk, 15 def, Casting spd 28, Physical attack 8, MP 25, Physical speed: 7 health 114.  
Staff bonus:Half casting time for spells, +10 health.  
Inventory: A lot of food. Coin: 125 gold, 12 silver and 7 cooper. Seeds: 3 big seeds, 6 small seeds, 2 flat seeds. Staff. 0 Clothing items (shirts, pants, etc). 1 Poor health potion (Heals 10 health instantly)  
On person: One hidden dagger.  
Spells: Low Healing. (20-30 Possible points per heal) Basic attack, and basic fire both deal 29 attack.  
Relationships> Friendship: +7/ 100.  
Relationships> Romance: +5/100.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying the story so far, please click the kudos button! We would appreciate the support.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Please leave reviews and comments if you have the chance! Thank you for reading.


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